MissingNo: The Real Origins
by Deadmeat703
Summary: To me, watching her looking at me, it changed my entire life in a second. I knew that this was the making of history. Of, of something completely thought to be impossible. Something that people can only dream of. And yet, here I am, and this is actually happening.
1. Intro

Before you start reading, allow me to say that this is a work-in-progress. Chapters that are posted will be edited to the best of my abilities, however there will be errors. I try to constantly update my chapters and fix any problems I come across, so when and/or if you decide to follow this story, it will be updated many times over the course of the story. Anyway, please enjoy my story! 

**MissingNo: The Real Origins**

 **INTRODUCTION**

The idea is simple, you get an idea, and somewhere, in some dark, deep hole, a light is born. That idea, given the proper nourishment, can become so powerful that it can sustain life of its own.  
Such is the way of life.

Earth was created in much the same way. God conceptualized a vision of a world where His view of the perfect man can live a world of prosperity and peace, and thus, it became so. I think you know the rest to that story. Man, humanity, is continually bursting to the brim with thought; ideas, input from the outside world, and so on. With these things humanity has created works of art, war machines, technology, and so much more. Every man, woman, and child is capable of creation, something extraordinary, something that could turn life as we know to a completely new direction. In the universe, anything is possible.  
Pokemon are included.

You see, once the idea of these amazing creatures became widespread, it came to the attention of the Big Guy himself. Which, to say the least, is unsettling, considering there were other more "important" matters at the time. I suppose God just has a weird sense of humor. Or cruelty. Pick your poison.  
Bemused with the popularity of pokemon, God felt willing to breathe life into it. The world of pokemon, nothing more than a dream in the minds of thousands, became reality, just like that.  
This is not to say that planet earth suddenly became good pals with our pokemon friends. No, this happened on a completely different plane of existence. The Almighty Creator decided to bestow a gift to a certain individual, as a test to decide if earth was ready for such an intervention.  
This is his story.


	2. Chapter 1

Chapter One  
 **Fucking Love, Man**

Let's get one thing straight, love is very simple. Put it like this, for those who have not had the absolute pleasure of experiencing it: you see that person, and something, something inside your head whispers, _"that's her. That's the one. Drop all your tickets on her, because she's the real deal, bucko."_ And you do just that, you buy the whole goddamn bundle, and slam it on the table in the name of a thing called _love._ It starts out so simple, but, and this is myself especially, it gets really complicated.

You can't stop looking at her. You do things you might question yourself afterwards, especially when that certain someone is a gardevoir from a god friggin' video game. Yeah, okay? Like I said, love is a complex thing. You want to know the real kicker? And look, I ain't kidding you here, _but she can fucking talk._

Yeah, yeah I get it, I'm insane, I get it, seriously. Something drew me there buddy, the second I saw her, or rather a picture of a gardevoir, I was like a bug drawn to those little electric flyswatters. I was 16 at the time, had never played a single game of pokemon in my life. I grabbed an emulator, downloaded my copy of Pokemon Emerald, (right after checking on Bulbapedia where you can catch a ralts) and went right to work. I had spent at least two hours looking for my own ralts, and after two males, I had finally gotten my very own. Looking through that tiny laptop screen, everything else fell away. At once, I knew what to call her. Just like that, no hesitation, nothing. I named her Amanda.

I'm not sure if life has some dirty sense of humor, because my love for Amanda has been what's driving me for the past few years. I still believe I'm destined to meet her again one day, and it was the events that took place those years ago that give me the backing to get through the hard spots. That, and what I have been working for a few days. More on that later.  
Once I had made Amanda the leader of my team, everything simply fell into place, and before I knew it I was facing the Elite Four. Hypnosis and Dream Eater made short work of them, (she was, after all, level 92) and it was around then I noticed small changes in her movement. Remember that I played this on a tiny little thing of a laptop, so frankly I mostly mistook it for the (lack of) pixelation.

Amanda too must have noticed my poor observation skills, because she took matters into her own hands at some point. At the end of gruelingly long battle with a trainer's absol, she decided to do a complete one-eighty to face me. While still on the screen. In the middle of my game. With the cutest goddamn smile on her face. Who would have known six or seven little pixels could make my jaw drop harder than a sack of potatoes lined with concrete? She did not talk at that point, but she certainly had my attention. Unfortunately, she only had a few seconds, as the screen goes back to the looking-down perspective as the usual pokemon style goes.

I just stayed motionless for a few moments, trying to process what I had just witnessed. The rational part of my brain was saying, _"no way. There's absolutely no way that just happened."_ And then there's the other part, screaming at me in my head, _"OPEN THE GODDAMN MENU YOU MORON!"_  
I took the obvious choice here, and really, who wouldn't want to check on their suddenly fully conscious pokemon? Whom seconds ago, was previously thought to be about as sentient as a pair of socks? So I opened the menu, and scrolled to where I could see the status of my team. Everything looked the same, they were all doing the little in-sync jumping like the normal little sprites they were. I kept staring at Amanda, waiting for her to do something, almost tempting her. Not a single peep. Eventually I caved in to my own curiosity, and opened her personal page for her stats, behavior, and of course a close-up of her figure in all of its pixelated glory. Needless to say, she was expecting me. The normal animation, with the hollow reverberating bell-like call, was replaced with her facing me, hands behind her back, and those big ruby red eyes looking right at me. Hell, right through me. I sincerely lost my breath, and when she smiled that cute smile again, I smiled right back with her. Right then, with my heart in my throat, every single doubt I ever had about this whole thing fell away, because I had the only person who needed to tell me _"you're not alone on this"_ acknowledge the fact that I wasn't actually alone on this.

Think about it, how many people do you actually know, living, dead, whatever, confess that they have been in love with a fictional character? Second to none, right? It doesn't happen. You, reader, are in a huge minority if you can confidently say you are in love with Naruto Uzumaki. Now, one day, he shows up on your goddamn doorstep. That silly shitface grin, bright blue eyes twinkling as loudly as that fucking bandanna strapped around his head.  
To me, staring back at her, it changed my entire life in a second. I knew, before she started speaking to me, that this was the making of history. Of, of something completely thought to be impossible. Something that people can only dream of. And yet, here I am, _and this is actually fucking happening._


	3. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

 **Fucking _What,_ Man?**

And then I blacked out. Just like that, gone like a light.

It's not like I felt it coming or anything. You would think that it was from the sheer shock of seeing Amanda coming to life, but it wasn't. For some time, I believed that was the cause of it as well, but then later on, much later on, it happened again, at the exact same spot and in vaguely the same space of time.

My theory? I guess some things aren't meant to be seen by human eyes. Some things should stay in the dark corners of the mind, because if the opportunity were to present itself, it would devour whatever sanity that person has. You could call it a defense mechanism, like the way a trauma patient blocks out the bad memories. The point is, I blacked out, and when I came to, I wasn't in my room anymore. The next few moments that happened, I'll try to explain it as best as I can, but honestly, it's a little hard to recall myself.

"Josh?"

A voice, smooth as silk, rang through my head, but all I could see was blinding light.

I lifted my arms, or at least thought I did, trying to block it out. My vision seemed to take control, and vague shapes first appeared, lines running down to sharpen the image, finally I could see what was in front of me.

I was lying on the ground. One half of my vision was filled with a bright, cheery blue sky, and the other waving to tall, thick grass. My mind, practically boiling in my head trying to process the sudden change in environment, slowly added primary senses. I could feel the light tickling of the grass on my bare arms, and although I was formerly wearing t-shirt and jeans, the weight of added clothes was undeniable. Instincts then kicked in, and I shot straight up, and not knowing what was in front of me, rammed directly into a white cloth. Only, it had some sort of weight in it, and the cloth cried out as I went right back down, clutching my forehead.

I felt and heard a light thump beside me, the white sheet also clutching its forehead.

My eyes went wide then, because there were also bright shades of green blotched in with all of that white cloth. I couldn't even move, let alone breath. Everything around me stopped to a halt, sound itself failed to reach me. I couldn't hear what she said, but as she opened her eyes, those deep ruby red ovals, every single problem I could even think of felt so small, so insignificant in the glowing light of those eyes. I felt like I could take on the world. And then it was gone, time speeding back up, someone pushed the volume back up, I could hear what Amanda was saying.

"-s your problem, Josh?!" She said, rubbing her forehead vigorously.

She was absolutely gorgeous. Her skin, ashen white, was absolutely flawless, in what little skin she showed. Along with her entrancing eyes, she had three little prongs that served as her ears. They moved about with her facial expressions, and were tucked slightly backwards, like an animal when it's irritated. Her voice, although still smooth and refined, had hints of venom in it. It also didn't help that she had two flaming balls of fire on her cheeks.

"Oh, shit, I'm so-" I started, but that only seemed to provoke her farther.

"Excuse me?"

"No, no I'm sorry Amanda, I did-"

"Whoa, whoa, stop," She said, putting her hands out. They were gloved, the gloves the same color as her hair. "Why are you calling me Amanda?" she asked. Her dark expression, although still there, was lightened with curiosity. "Is there someone I don't know about?"

I paused for a second, processing what she said. I almost laughed at the thought of it.

"No! Nononono look, I don't know why you're calling me Josh, but if you could just listen for a second, I can..." I trailed off, "uh..."

What could I do? _Explain_ it to her? I had no idea what was going on, and it seemed that neither did she.

"You can...? Have you knocked something loose when you fell?" She asked, cocking an eye. They only widened when I had nothing to say, "Oh my God. Josh, you really don't know who you are, do you?"

I could only shrug sheepishly. "I guess...?"

She suddenly shot forward, and grabbed my shoulders. Her face was suddenly only a couple of inches from mine. I felt my heart leave the stratosphere.

"Josh! What about…! _Please_ tell me you remember the gym!" Her eyes flashed in the sunlight, clashing fiercely with the sky.

"I have no idea what you're talking about!" I cried, and although it took a serious effort, I took a step back. "Do you mean, like a pokemon gym? Or like, an exercise gym?"

She stood there for a second, stunned. "A pokemon gym, you moron! We're-" She stopped herself, throwing her hands in the air, and walking away. "Forget it. We'll never make it in time."

I couldn't help but feel a little defensive. "I'm sorry Amanda, but give me a break here." I let out a little laugh, at the absurdity of this entire situation. "I know this sounds weird to you, but I'm completely new at this."

She looked back at me, now her face stitched with worry. Her ruby red eyes, softened by something I couldn't see, said something farther down. Something that looked like hurt to me.

"What do you mean?" She said, her voice gentle and small. "And why do you keep calling me that? You said I don't have a name anymore, remember?"

"No, I don't. Because I _did._ And your name is Amanda," I said, like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"So, what? You're taking back what you said? What's the point?" She was fingering her hair, twisting it around with a gloved finger.

"Well, because you deserve one," I said simply.

Her eyes looked at me, and did a once over. Worry melted into suspicion.

"I don't get it. It's like you're a completely different person," she said, crossing her arms over her chest. The large red spike on her chest, a darker shade of red than her eyes, poked out from between her arms.

"Well, that's because I'm not Josh."

"Then who are you?" She asked suspiciously.

I stuck my hand out. She took a protective step back, before realizing I only wanted to greet her. Hesitantly, she clasped hers in mine, puzzled. I pumped it once, "My name is Francis, pleased to meet you," I said cheerfully.

She raised an eyebrow as she shook my hand, studying me, "You really aren't Josh, are you?"

I shook my head. "No. You might have a hard time believing this, but you just shook hands with the person who created you."

She didn't believe me, of course.

After brief introductions, it didn't take long to figure things out. I blacked out, and literally woke up in the world of pokemon. My old self, with dirty blonde hair and a skinny frame, was replaced with a slightly more athletic self with shaggy brown hair. Josh, my own version of the main character, Brendan, apparently kept Amanda out of her pokeball on big trips, and the rest of my team, as in my literal team that I was staring at the screen only half an hour before, were strapped to my belt. Excluding Amanda, that left Adela, an absol, Ruby, a heracross, Aggron, Azumarill, and fucking Rayquaza. I just had to have a legendary, didn't I? As much as I wanted to take them out of their pokeballs, Amanda wouldn't let me just yet.

"I'm taking this whole thing rather well, right?" She asked.

I nodded, "Yeah, I'd say so. About as well as someone in this situation could."

She nodded back in agreement, "Right, right. But do you think the rest of them would? Think about it Jos- er, Francis. The person that they have known for most of their life is now completely gone."

Good point.

"Look, why don't we get out of this field, and back to town? It's not like we can go to the gym anymore." She said.

I nodded again, motioning for her to take the lead. We started through the field, which eventually gave way to a well-kept path. There, I met the trainers I had fought before me. Amanda told me the latter bit, and judging by the way they avoided my gaze, I must have stomped on them. Amanda giggled at this bit, and she said that yes, yes I did.

As we walked, the grass eventually gave way to steep, rocky hills on either side, and Amanda informed me that we were on route 111, and not too far from the desert. And soon enough, the path split into two, a sign with two arrows pointing to each of the paths. The sign said:

Fallabor Town – 59 mil.

Mauville City – 18 mil.

"We were supposed to go to Fallabor, to meet with Fla- er, a friend." Amanda said. "But seeing as how things are turning out…"

I nodded, "I get it. That only leaves us Mauville, then."

Headed toward Mauville, my eyes couldn't help but make their way towards Amanda. She didn't walk, she _glided_. There was no rhythm in her step, because there were no steps. She was much more human-looking than I had anticipated, and compared to her pixelated self, she was a completely different person. I always imagined her to be incredibly skinny, and while she was rather skinny, it still didn't come close to what I was expecting.

Her hands and arms were not so disproportionate as most make out to be, they were fairly human-looking, the exception being that they were a little on the skinny side. She showed very little skin, obscured by the long flowing gown that covered most of her body. She was fit, but skinny enough to where I didn't really see any muscle, but it was easy to tell that she was athletic. A slim waistline flowed down to the curve of her hips, her outline easily traceable through her gown. To my surprise, she was shorter than me, but not by much. Her eyes rested at just about my chin, and she didn't have to look up much to meet me. The spike in the middle of her chest was the slap in the face though.

It just looked so out of place, because _damn,_ she just looked so human, and gorgeous, on top of that. The front spike was smooth edged, it wasn't actually spiky. The spike on her back could hardly be called as such, it just barely poked through, but enough to break the smooth lines of her exposed shoulders and backside. It ended in a point, but it was so small it was looked more like a nub than anything. Like the front one, it was also darker red than her eyes. I was facing behind her, so I couldn't really get a good look at her chest. Her breasts were small, of course. The cut in her gown showed a little cleavage, but it stopped much higher than what I remember, stopping just where her breasts started to take shape. Not that I cared anyway. Okay, maybe a little.

Her hair, a light shade of green, was styled like the hairstyle I know. However, it wasn't perfect by any means, the little curls that wrapped around her ears were frayed at the end from constantly being messed with. Her bangs were more brushed aside, Justin Beiber style, rather than ending an a point to accent her eyes. It gave her a more innocent look to her face, as her eyes wandered from place to place, a curious light captured within them.

Oh, and she hummed.

I doubt that she even noticed it, but she would start a little tune, and wouldn't stop until it was over. Then some time passed by, and she would start again, this time a different song. Sometimes she would catch herself doing it, and would take a quick glance at me, but say nothing. She had a beautiful tone, warm and inviting, and at one point I heard her singing under her breath along with her humming, murmuring to herself some kind of old hymn,

" _Oh, when the wind blows,_ _I am guided by thee,_

 _Ye bountiful child, so great and worthy..."_

Amanda trailed off, and took a quick look over her shoulder, met my stare with her own. Her eyes widened for just a second, before quickly looking in the other direction, her cheeks turning red.

I didn't say anything, only smiled.

Amanda didn't speak or hum for the rest of the trip, she would only answer my questions should I ask any. None of her own made their way to her lips.

We came across multitudes of trainers on bikes and on foot, but no one dared to come near us. They all kept their distance, huffing and puffing as they ran or biked up the path. I saw so many different varieties of pokemon, from adorable little sandshrews that rolled their way across the hard packed dirt, to groups of taillows and swellows that chirped endlessly in the air, swarms of them swooping and diving, picking fruits from the endless trees.

The sun had turned into an orange ball of fire by the time we reached Mauville. I wasn't as small as I thought it to be, but not big enough to really be called a city. From the way we had come in, the first thing I saw was the gym building. Amanda had to drag me along to keep me from staring. It looked to be as big as a courthouse, the front entrance packed with conversing trainers. From inside, I could hear crackles of thunder, and earlier I could have sworn there was an explosion.


	4. Chapter 3

**Chapter Three**

 **The Truth Is Often the One You Don't Want to Think About**

Away from the main avenue, housing developments and neighborhoods dominated the rest of the city. We walked from street to street, from endless house to the next. Almost every house was a neat two-story building, with a big front and back yard. Eventually, we turned onto "my" street, with rows of single-story houses as big as their two-story rivals. Our house was the farthest one down the street, gated off from the other ones and secluded in a wall of trees. Amanda punched in the code for the gate, and we headed down the long gravel driveway, big pine-looking trees on either side. The house itself was only one story tall, but much differently designed than the others on the street. Instead of a concrete and brick construction, the house was almost jet black, and looking closer, it looked to be made of wood.

"Josh had this custom built after he beat the Elite Four," Amanda said, as I touched the rubbery, gritty wall. " _Everyone_ gets their own house when they earn the title of Champion," she said as she unlocked the door and stepped inside.

I raised an eyebrow, I thought she said that rather coldly.

And then it hit me, literally. I stepped through the doorway, and a breeze of cold air instantly blew my new shaggy hair back. It was freezing in here! Good God, how much does this guy pay in electric bills?

As if she read my mind (har-har), "Because he's the champion, the pokemon administration pays for the house. Everything here except the food is completely free," she said over her shoulder.

I followed her through the short hallway, and we entered the kitchen, completely modernized compared to the more rustic look of the other houses. There was a large black walnut dining table in front of us, and behind the table was the black granite counter and sink. Integrated into the wall facing us, the refrigerator, an oven, and what looked like a toaster mixed with a microwave hummed quietly in the silent room. All of it was stainless steel, reflecting the gloomy light. An open doorway to the right of the counter looked like it lead to the living room, and the other was a closed door.

Amanda took one of the large wooden chairs from the table, sat down, and motioned for me to do the same. I sat myself down, unbuckling my belt and rubbing my arms.

"Do you have a jacket or something?" I asked, wondering how anyone could live in this house without one.

She nodded and smoothly got up, "I'll go get you one," she said.

I smiled, "Thanks."

As I waited, I rooted through my pockets, taking out anything that was in them. I didn't have a backpack on, which I thought was strange. No potions, no extra pokeballs, nothing. Just the belt, a fat wallet, an undoubtedly expensive watch, and what looked like a Swiss knife. I eyed the belt of pokeballs, and fished one out of the belt's little leather holders. The red and white sphere was about the size of a large gumball in the belt, but once I had it in my hand it immediately doubled in size, to about the size of a softball. It hummed ever so slightly, and was warm to the touch. I was fingering the catch release when Amanda came back, and threw me a soft cotton jacket. It was, I began to notice the pattern here, black.

"So, uh can I...?" I motioned to the pokeball in my hand, and Amanda nodded, sitting back down.

"Just remember what I told you," she said in her soft voice, "I can't guarantee any of them won't be upset. They can't talk to you directly, but they can understand you perfectly so please, just... Don't say anything stupid," she said almost warily.

I nodded with an overconfident smile, and opened the pokeball. The red half of it swung open, and in a bright flash of red light, Adela, my absol, was standing in front of us. And wow. Okay, just wow.

Think of the most gorgeous animal you have ever seen. Could be a dog, cat, whatever. Now multiply that by a hundred times, and you _might_ have Adela.  
She had the most beautiful white coat I had ever seen, pure white, she stood out so sharply in the gloomy kitchen I almost covered my eyes. A long, flowing mane covered her shoulders, it nearly reached the floor. A very sharp sickle-like horn protruded from her head, and an equally deadly-looking tail as well, it looked almost exactly like a black scimitar.

I remember that absol have claws, but like cats, they're apparently retractable, save the fourth thumb claw located on the elbow of her legs. She was about as big as a medium-sized dog, and very slim. Muscles rippled under her fur, but even so I could count a good amount of ribs before they disappeared into that snowy white coat. She had fiery crimson red eyes, a much more orangeish-red than Amanda's, and they stood out spectacularly against the blueish-black of her skin. A large blueish-black oval protruded from her forehead, which in a way, completed her look. She looked at me for a second, her face scrunched up in confusion, her tiny little dot of a nose crinkling up in distaste, a single fang poking out from under her lip.

Amanda cleared her throat, and Adela looked to her, curiosity lurking in her crimson eyes.

"I see you've already noticed," Amanda said to Adela. Wasn't like I was hiding my amazement, it was very much the opposite.

Adela slowly nodded, "Sol. Absol," she growled, studying me. It came out barely above a whisper, and her voice was gravelly. Very rough, but elegant, in a way.

I could only wave sheepishly at her, with a stupid grin on my face. Like Amanda said, I didn't want to provoke Adela. But I mean, what's the harm of saying hi, right?

So I extended my hand out to her, "It's nice to meet you, Adela," I said, my eyes shining at the thought of getting a chance to pet her fur.

She snorted like a horse, and threw her head high into the air, away from my hand, "Absol," she muttered, peering at me with half-closed lids.

Amanda covered her mouth, suppressing a giggle. I looked to her, trying to understand what she said.

"She said you're going to have to try to better than that," Amanda responded between her fingers, the corners of her mouth upturned in a smile.

Before I could even muster a reply, Adela got up and sauntered out of the room, her tail high in the air. I just watched in disbelief. What did I do?

"You didn't do anything wrong, Francis," Amanda said, yet again picking up my thought, "You're not _you,_ right?"

I nodded in apparent agreement, but sighed anyway, "Yeah, I'm not me. I'm someone else. But what could have he, or I, done to make Adela like that?"

Amanda opened her mouth to say something, then stopped abruptly. It was a while before she gathered the right words, "Francis, I don't know where you might have come from, but here, things are different. Josh is a busy person. He is the face of the pokemon administration. We had to meet with Flannery in Fallarbor for a meeting. We're _supposed_ to be in Fallarbor. To, well..." she trailed off, and looked away.

I leaned closer, "To what?" I asked, remembering that there isn't a gym in Fallarbor.

She shrugged, "We just don't get any attention anymore. Josh doesn't have any more need for us. He was getting ready to release us, and then you showed up."

I couldn't believe what I was hearing. "What?! But, but..."

Amanda nodded, "I know, I know. But he wanted to get rid of us. He's set for life, Francis," She said flatly, "He's grown up, moved on," she paused for a second, her eyes now looking at the ground, and said gently, "what... What use could he have of us anymore?"

"What _use?"_ I cried out in disbelief. She jumped at my sudden outcry.

"You're... _You're_ _Amanda!"_ I pointed to the doorway, where Adela poked her head around the corner, attentive from my sudden outburst. "She's _Adela!_ " I grabbed the belt I was holding and shook it in front of her face. "This is _my_ _team!_ You guys are my family! I would never throw you away! Good God, _throw you away?!_ What sane person on earth would ever even think of such of a thing?"

She still wouldn't look at me, but muttered something under her breath.

"What?" I asked, blood still pumping.

She suddenly looked defiantly at me, her eyes momentarily flashing deep ruby red, "Then who are you?!" She shouted back, and stood up from her chair so fast it fell to the ground with a loud, _thunk!_

"Just who the hell _are you?_ Why do you care what happens to us, huh? How do you know so much about us? How do you know our names? _Why_ do you know our names?!" With each question her voice became louder and louder, "what possibly makes you think that, _that you're a part of our family?!_ What do you even know about us?! _"_ Her voice cracked with her last question.

At some point she had grabbed the belt of pokeballs from me, and now she was clutching it protectively over her chest. She stared at me with those glowing ruby red eyes, big soft tears streaming from her cheeks. There was hate in those eyes, hatred of someone who wasn't me. Hatred from something that I didn't understand.

"Well?!" She asked, demanding an answer.

"Amanda, I-"

" _Stop calling me that!_ " She really did scream this time. "You don't know a _damn thing_ about me," she said through clenched teeth, "so don't you _dare_ call me by my real name _._ "

"I'm sorry." I whispered, staring at the ground. I sat there for a long time, thinking of what to say. She stared silently back at me, waiting.

After an eternity, I sighed and looked up again, met with her gazing stare. Those hardened ruby orbs, trying so hard to be strong. She had to know. And not just the truth.

"You're my gardevoir, not his, I said softly.

"What are you talking about?" She said quietly, but her voice was harsh and cold.

"It means exactly what it means, Amanda. You're mine, not his. This world," I motioned to the room around me, "is nothing more than a video game. A _fucking_ video game, Amanda. I am from a completely different world, where _you,_ where this whole _world_ is nothing more than a series of numbers that we created," I said.

"But I control every aspect of Josh's life. Where he moves, what he does, everything. _I_ defeated the Elite Four and Team Magma and Aqua. The default name for my character was Brendan, I didn't like it, so I changed it to Josh. Who knew a simple thought like that could have such horrible consequences?" I laughed, almost evilly, "Really shows how tiny we are."

Amanda only stared back, silent.

I continued, "I caught you on Route 4, back when you were a ralts. It took me a couple of tries, I got a lot of males, but finally, _you._ I don't know what it was, but I had to name you Amanda. It just felt right. You seemed so, so tiny. I wanted to protect you, something in me told me to raise you. And I did, didn't I? Or rather, he did. We went into that stupid cave next to the shore, and I bet he put you down and said, "we aren't leaving until you're stronger", right? Because I said that. Every single thing he has done, I did it first. But," I said, pausing, reflecting on everything that had happened since I got here, "I didn't know any of this would happen. Most of all, I had no idea that Josh was going to... Throw you away! Do you realize what you mean to me, Amanda? Not just my best team member, the only person I can call my own. My whole team, even. I..." I closed my eyes, and took a deep breath, met her gaze once more,"I love you Amanda."

The room sat still, drinking in the words that rang throughout the house. We stared at another for decades. I thought my brain was going to explode and then she said something. I didn't catch it at first, because she said it so quietly.

"You're a monster," she muttered.

I wasn't expecting that at all. I was expecting anything _but_ that. My face softened, and I finally broke her gaze, and dropped my head in defeat.

Above me, she replied, "I don't care who you are, or what you've done. You love me, huh? Yeah, well _where have you been all my life?!_ "She seethed, blood red fury radiated from her body, her eyes two burning red orbs of molten ruby.

I looked up again, against that raging heart, those furious eyes, all I saw was pain and sorrow. Fright, like a cornered dog, snapping at anything, anything at all, out of sheer desperation.

"Are you scared of me?" I whispered, barely audible, but I knew she heard me loud and clear.

Confusion spread across her face, but before she could reply, I said, "no, you're scared of Josh. I have nothing to do with this."

"No!" she cried back defiantly, but already her anger was falling apart, _she_ was falling apart at the truth of my words.

I stood up, and took a step toward her, gazing at her, looking at the poor, little girl that stood before me.

I saw the scars left behind in her eyes, her struggle to keep herself even standing, "Amanda, you don't have to hide anymore," I said gently.

"Don't you dare," she whispered, flattening herself against the wall. She tightened her grip around the belt. "Don't you dare come near me again Josh," she whispered, venom dripping from her words.

"I'm not going-"

" _I won't let you take them away!"_ She suddenly cried, " _do you hear me?!"_

Her eyes were two orbs of blood red ruby, setting fire to anything she glanced at. Tears streamed down her flushed cheeks, reflecting the light blue aura that surrounded her. Her robes billowed underneath an invisible wind, and she desperately pressed the belt of pokeballs against her chest.

"I don't care who you say you are. You're the same person who took the rest of them away. You're not Francis, you're Josh aren't you? This is some stupid trick, because all you ever do is trick us! You don't give a _shit_ about us! We're just tools! Not this time, no, _no!_ _They're all I have left, you fucking monster!"_

I took another step forward towards her, and she cringed back even more, tears streaming down her face. She could have easily slammed me into the nearest wall with a flick of her wrist, but she didn't. And I knew she wouldn't, because I understood now.

By then I was right in front of her, and reached out towards her. She slapped my hand away, but she knew the effort was in vain. She struggled and kicked and cried, but I kept my grip on her shoulders, looking directly at her. She avoided my gaze and desperately tried to keep herself under control, wiping away tears with the back of her hand, trying to remain calm. When I spoke, my voice gentle and calm, she stopped and looked directly at me.

"He used to hurt you, didn't he?" I said softly, and put my hand over hers, the one clutching tightly around the belt.

Amanda gasped, and went completely still, lost in my eyes, "he used you, and now you have nothing else left. And that's okay Amanda, because I'm not him. _I'm not Josh._ "

Something clicked, something within her mind told her the unfiltered truth. The shock from the unexpected tenderness in my words, the way I gripped her hand, it was finally clear to her. And finally, finally after God knows how many nights masking her pain, faking her smile, she fell apart into hitching sobs.

I wrapped my arms around her, and she buried her head in my shoulder and wept, and wept, and wept.

An hour later, I lay with her on the floor of the kitchen, our backs pressed against the wall. She had stopped crying, but we stayed there in the kitchen for a little while longer, and eventually she fell asleep in my arms. With Adela at my feet, I guided my half-asleep gardevoir through the house, and laid her in the nearest bedroom I found. I was settling her in bed when she grabbed my shirt, her puffy, bright ruby eyes half-open.

"You're really not Josh, are you?" She whispered, her voice hoarse from the recent screaming.

I shook my head.

"Is he ever going to be back?"

I shook my head again.

She smiled, a silly, sunny grin that made her almost look drunk. It made my heart skip a beat.

"Good."


	5. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4  
** **Dreaming of Silver**

I closed the bedroom door, Adela gingerly looking at me from my feet. She got up, walked to the end of the hall and stopped at another closed door, looking at me. I followed her, and she gave a little gruff "sol", nudging me towards the door. It was another dark bedroom, much larger than the one I was just in. Adela stood in the doorway and gave another gruff "sol". I nodded in return, assuming she wanted me to sleep in here. With her mission complete, she gave a little victory sneeze, and left me to my own. I closed the door, leaving just a crack open, watching Adela disappear into the living room. Without another word, I walked to the bed and fell asleep before I hit the pillow.  
No dreams that night. Not yet, anyway.

I didn't wake up in the same room I fell asleep in. My heart was light and fluttery then, full of all of that good stuff that comes with being in love.  
It sunk like a rock when I woke up back in my old room, covered in junk.  
Back in my old self, skinny and hollow.  
Back in this shitty life.  
Goddammit.

I practically leaped out my real bed, heaps of clothes flying in every direction. I tripped over the blankets in my frenzy, and landed with a hard thud on the ground, hard enough for the many carefully stacked cans of cola to come crashing down. I barely felt it of course, the only thing I cared about at the moment was opening my laptop, and trying to figure out what happened. If only I could find the damn thing. I threw the blankets off of myself, scouring the floor to find the small dirty rectangle that was my computer. It was right where I left it, to my extreme relief, and in power-saving mode. I ripped the screen open, and mashed the power button. It clicked on, the screen flickering to life. A brief series of shaking, minute taps on the keyboard, and I was back to staring at the picture of Amanda, only she was in her default pose this time. She called out in her hollow call, nothing out of the ordinary. No spinning around this time, no cute little smile. I could still see her, the _real_ her in my head, grinning like a little kid. I could still hear her voice, soft as cotton and sweet as candy. I stared at that screen, waiting. Something had to happen, right? She's still asleep, of course. A little picture of her will appear. It has to. Lying in bed, her chest rising up and down slowly. Rhythmically. Maybe I'll get to see her smile again, because it was already starting to fade away, like a good dream that I didn't want to end. I waited, staring at the stagnant image of the screen.  
Nothing happened, absolutely nothing. I sighed, and lowered the screen. She's gone. I could barely remember what she looked like now, the laptop offering no signs of recourse.

" _Fuck!_ " I yelled in the silent room, throwing the laptop off of my lap.  
It hit the wall facing me, and the screen immediately turned black. I sighed, got up, and picked up my blankets from the floor. Recollecting my thoughts from my previously-forgotten life, I remembered it was a Wednesday, and according to the clock that was swinging by its cord from the shelf, just ten minutes' shy of eight o'clock in the evening. My stomach rumbled upon the discovery of how late it was, and I realized I hadn't eaten in what felt like years.

I opened my bedroom door, and froze, mid-stride.

There was something in the pocket of my jeans, something that wasn't there before. I never kept anything in my pockets, certainly not something this heavy. I reached in, feeling the light weight of the object. It was metal, whatever it was, so I held it up to the light to view.

A shiny silver pendant, in the shape of a heart, about the size of a quarter.  
There was a little metal loop attached to run a chain through it, and tied to the loop was a length of silver ribbon, glittering in the light. It was tied to the loop with a simple knot, so that the excess ribbon wrapped itself around the pendant. I flipped it over in my fingers, and I couldn't move.

There she was.

A tiny picture of her, encased in glass. Not pixel Amanda, _real_ Amanda, in all her realness glory. It was poorly done; the picture was clearly not meant to fit the dimensions of the heart. She was missing most of the upper part of her head, just a little bit of her green hair could be seen. Not that it mattered anyway, because dead in the middle Amanda's bright ruby eyes held my gaze. She had that same cute little smile I saw when I first met her on the laptop, a million times better seeing it in real life. It was curious and inquisitive, if not slightly bemused. She looked back at me like I had known her for a million years and sometimes wonder why it was me, and not someone else. My legs melted into the floor at the sight of her, and I felt myself smiling and wiping away tears at that tiny picture of her. It was just so _perfect_.  
I slipped it back into my pocket, and with light feet, I made some dinner.

It was the best damn Mac-N-cheese I ever made.

Remember how I mentioned I had a "shitty life"? Yeah, there's a reason I haven't mentioned any parents until now. My folks split when I was relatively young, at the bright young age of five years old. At that time, I thought no dad was better than my own. He gave me go-carts, he let me do essentially whatever I wanted, and if anybody had something to say about it, well, fuck em. As I grew up, I began to understand why my mom left him. I began to understand that, the _reason_ he let me do what I wanted is because he himself didn't know what to do. What, say no? Please, what's the worst that could happen? A lot apparently, but sometimes he puts too much faith in me. And when I fail, it hurts a lot more coming home with an F, or a bloody nose.

Can't say I _hate_ him. But hell, he doesn't make it much easier around here. He knows it, and I know it. But he doesn't care. His mind focuses on other things. Physical things, to be precise. Doesn't have to be anything in particular, and mostly it's junk. But every night, my dad will pull up in his old beat-up Nissan Z, and drag out some piece of junk to add to the pile. There are seven piles in total, pretty much all of it junk. He says one day he'll make a fortune out of it, like he said one day he will clean the Nissan. That was almost a year ago, about three weeks after he bought the car in dirty wads of twenties and fives. It used to be silver, now it's more mottled brown than anything. Don't get me started on the interior. I live with this, because I basically have to. I have three brothers, one living with my mom, and the older one mostly in jail. Enough of my mom's time is spent between work, handling said older brother, and the usual mom-duties. It's an unspoken rule that I should stay here, in this hole, until she can get herself together again. That rule was implemented a long time ago, and I doubt I will ever see the end of it. I tried living with her once, or rather tried asking, and with a polite yet clipped tone, she explained that for the best I should stay where I was. You see sweetie, things aren't much better here than they are over there.  
And so on.

The next day I promptly woke up in the morning, got ready for school. I took especial care to keep the pendant within arm's reach, I never really took my eye off of it until I slipped it into my pocket as I headed out the door. Even then, I could feel its warm weight against my leg, and every now and then I would run it over my palm, a wave of goosebumps washing over me. That bus ride to school was spent in the clouds, a far-off look in my eyes and an infatuated smile on my lips. When the bus pulled up to the school however, that feeling went away.

I didn't think much of it as I walked to my class, I still had the pendant in my pocket, and so far, everything was fine in my eyes. I never noticed the swarms of people I passed in the hallways, I never noticed the far-off wail of sirens. Nothing but lollipops and dandelions for this guy. There was no one in my classroom when I took my usual spot, not even the teacher. I hardly thought anything was wrong, I didn't see or hear anything out of the ordinary, must have been early. I took my binder out, hearing the pleasurable little creak it made when I opened it, and slammed my head into the desk. Or rather, the weight of my head slammed itself into the desk, and as light faded away, I began to realize how _wrong_ the world looked.

When I woke up again, I wasn't entirely sure I was actually awake. I could feel my eyes open, I could feel myself, but I could not see anything. I held up my hand, and saw nothing but darkness. I sat myself up, looking around. Not a single damn thing. I decided to stand up, look around for a light switch. Using what I believed was north, I walked in that direction, hands out, waiting to hit into something, run into something, _anything._ I walked for what felt like hours, and nothing came my way. Beginning to lose hope, I tried other directions, but to no avail. I looked upwards, and saw a speck of light. I gasped, and somehow, I'm not really sure how this worked, I began _running_ towards it, this tiny little speck, a way out, some form of escape. As I got closer it became brighter and brighter, until I had to squint my eyes against it. It became huge, as big as a skyscraper, brighter than the sun. And then, _oh God,_ it turned blood red. It began oozing blood, no, gushing it from every way I could see. I stopped in my tracks, physically unable to move. Pain, unimaginable pain, seared its way into my head. It felt like someone was dragging a white-hot knife across my brain, and simultaneously stabbing me with it. I grabbed my throbbing, burning scalp and screamed. I screamed for it to stop, and I could see that I too was bleeding. It blurred my vision, and burned my skin.  
From every pore, blood oozed from my fingertips, my clothes suddenly clung to my body. It pattered onto the floor, and twisted and writhed into itself, as though it were alive. It screamed back at me, a high pitched shriek that nothing human could ever make. Within its vibrations, as I peered from my bloody eyes, I watched with horror as it formed an image. Something that looked familiar. Ruby red eyes, staring back at me. Only this time they were pleading with me, begging me to stop. The shrieking suddenly doubled in volume, and it changed in pitch and texture, it was Amanda screaming at me, screaming in horror and pain. I heard a sick thud, horribly audible over Amanda's screams.

It was like a piece of metal connecting with flesh. The screaming got even louder, it tore its way into my head, reverberating like a bell, threatening to tear my head apart. I screamed with her, and dropped to my knees. I dragged myself forward, nearing the pool of blood. It was vibrating intensely, but Amanda's eyes were still visible. I bit the inside of my cheek, and imaged Amanda's face with those eyes. The torrent of agony inside my head suddenly dropped a level, compelling me to reach my hand out. Her face filled my mind, those bright ruby eyes, a smile playing on her lips. I reached out, and caressed that face with my hand, and all at once the screaming stopped. I was back in the darkness, only, no. It was going away. The darkness was bleeding away, revealing Amanda's bright ruby eyes. My vision, obscured within shades of red, became clear now. Her eyes grew into a soft face, then into a body. The room behind her came into view, it added shades of dark grey and muddled brown. I could see a couch behind her. Hell, I could see _her_. My right hand, the one that I had reached out with, was settled gently against her cheek, which was oozing blood from a cut. She was crying again.

I furrowed my brows, "What's wrong?" I asked, and was surprised how scratchy it came out.

As I became more aware of my surroundings, I looked at my left hand, which was balled into a fist and raised.

Raised towards her.

I stumbled stupidly backwards, half pushed by Amanda, and myself from shock.

"Wha- wha…?" I said stupidly, looking at the hands that were not mine, covered in a fine mist of blood, and then at her.

She had curled into a ball, her hands around her knees, sobbing gently. I could see bruises forming on her back.

"A-amanda…?" I managed, "what the hell happened?" I rasped.  
I tried to take a step forward, but only managed to trip over myself. I went down with a rusty _oof!_ , my arms not wanting to pick myself back up. My vision wavered and flexed, and I suddenly wanted to vomit. Partly from seeing Amanda the way she was, and partly because… Oh man, was I _drunk._

I raised my head, fighting back the waves of nausea and sleepiness, and gently tugged on Amanda's dress. She just barely raised her head, enough for me to see one puffy, throbbing eye. Jesus Christ, I almost lost it right there seeing her eye swollen up like that.  
"Amanda, it's me Francis." I rasped again, and saw her eye widen just a bit. "Listen, whatever he did, I'm here now, so, so don't… don't you worry…" I trailed off, and my head slumped against the floor as I fell back into sleep. I caught something before I passed out, and it still haunts me in my dreams, those words.  
The betrayal in her voice.

"You broke your promise."


	6. Chapter 5

Author's note: Sorry it's taking so long to churn out these chapters. College is a bitch. Anyway, here ya go. Enjoy it folks.

Chapter Five **  
** **Come On Now, It Can't Be That Easy**

"What happened?"  
A voice. Was it me? I couldn't tell. It didn't sound like me, but it had to be me, right?  
" _Wrong._ "  
Another voice. I didn't like the way it sounded. It reminded me of a bully back when I was little, how he pushed other kids to the ground and watched them squirm under his boot. It gave me a chill that ran down my spine, creeping its way into my skin. His buddies called him Malfoy, because he slicked his shiny black hair back like the character from the books. I clearly remember how he always had his lips curled in a nasty sneer, how it made him look like a weasel. And now he made his way back to me somehow, clawing his way into my head, mocking me with his stringy, stinking voice.  
" _You fucked up man. Not that it's surprising, you always were the one to make pretty girls run away, Francy boy._ "  
Amanda appeared, only she was curled into a ball, her arms hugging her knees. It was strangely familiar, and I felt compelled to walk toward her, but something stopped me. There was something distinctly wrong with her; the more I looked at her, the worse it became. I could make out bruises on her back, and instead of a solid white, her skin was more of a sick, yellowish pale, the color of dead skin. Black veins pulsed through the small nub of the spike on her back, which looked more like a giant pimple. And then, _oh God, she had no eyes._ She looked at me, but there was nothing there. Black, bloody holes, that pulsed and writhed as though it were alive. A horrible stench of decayed flesh assaulted my nose, it burned my throat and made my eyes water. She sneered at me, the same one Malfoy used to crack on his chapped lips. In his identical voice, she rasped, " _You broke your promise, you fucker. You're on fire, Francy. You're on fucking fire, Francy boy! YOU'RE ON F-"_

I woke up screaming, and covered in a slimy sheet of sweat. It was freezing in here, but I felt like I had just come back from a five-mile jog. I tore the covers off of myself – white, crisp sheets that surely didn't belong to me. I stopped for a second, feeling the fabric between my hands. I looked at my hands, only they weren't _my_ hands. They belonged to someone else. God help me, they were the hands of someone I created. A fucking monster. I could see the scabs on my  
 _(his)_  
knuckles, and tiny half-crescent marks lined my palms. I must have made them in my sleep. I sighed, and rubbed my face with those hands. Everything was coming back, what had happened the night before, and the fleeting image of Amanda in my dreams.  
"This isn't what I wanted…" I whispered to myself as I stood up, pushing the covers off of me. I was still wearing the same clothes from the last visit, however the jacket felt grimy and the undershirt clung to my skin. For a while, I mulled around thinking what I should do, and after a brief search I found what I was looking for – a bathroom.

Like the bedroom, it was very spacious inside. I had about three strides length of free room before I hit the opposing wall, and a large gleaming bathtub took up the right side of the room. The rest was covered by a black granite counter, complete with two sinks and mirrors. I walked to one of the mirrors, and looked at the face that didn't belong to me. It was _him_. The one who beats up his pokemon when he had too much to drink, who has done God knew how many other atrocious acts. Me, the _real_ me, I should have been there for her. But I wasn't, and the more I looked at that mirror, the more I could feel myself shaking in rage. I left her in the wake of a monster, and I couldn't do a damn thing to stop it. All I could do was make empty promises, all the while she was being beaten to hell. It filled me with disgust, from what I had created, from my helplessness, disgusted at myself. I was trembling, gripping the counter so hard that my knuckles turned white.  
"You…" I seethed, staring at my reflection. I could swear it was mocking me, those bright blue eyes, twinkling in the light. _What you gonna do 'bout it, Francy boy?_  
"You _fucker!"_ I screamed.  
Quick as lightning, I crashed my fist through the mirror, and felt the drywall behind it give way. I stood there for a solid minute, breathing heavily and feeling the pain etch its way into my arm. At some point, I could feel blood running down my fist, and I was sure I caught some glass on the way through. At some point my rational mind took command once again, and slowly, I extracted my arm out of the newly created hole in wall. My head was still whirling like a tornado, tempting me to put another hole in the wall, just for good measure.

"Are you sure you're still the same person?" Asked a smooth voice, coming from the doorway.  
I looked at Amanda, and my heart sunk down into my feet. Her left eye was swollen and bruised almost black. I could only see a sliver of bright red peeking out. Her green hair was tussled around as if she didn't get any sleep. Her ears, cock-eyed, and strained from various positions to the next. Multiple bruises covered her skinny arms and midriff, and a ring of red circled her neck. She looked indifferently at me, her lips as numb and cold as my hand was feeling.  
I dropped my eyes to the ground, the anger I felt quickly reduced to shame and guilt under her cold gaze.  
"I'm sorry," I said quietly.

To my surprise, she smiled at me. "So it is you. Josh would never apologize."

I flinched at the mention of his name, "Figures. That piece of shit," I spat.

"That piece of shit is you, you know," Amanda mused.

"How can you be so calm about this?"

Amanda looked at me like I was insane, "Who ever said I was calm?" She retorted, "what, you think I'm okay with this? Let's get one thing straight. I am _far_ from okay, alright?"  
I didn't respond, only looked at my bare feet. Amanda looked at me once more, waiting for an answer. I didn't have one, so she and turned around and left, the door clicking behind her. I sighed, and started stripping off my dirty clothes to take a bath in the hottest water I could handle. Maybe it would clear my head a little bit. I didn't think so, but it was worth a shot.

I sat there, watching the steam drift and curl into the cool air above. The water didn't do much to ease my mind, but it did wonders on my throbbing hand. I was sure the bathtub was coated with some sort of soothing chemical – I could faintly smell something minty, and I was oddly cool in the midst of near boiling-hot water. I washed myself, and was about to pull the plug when I heard the bathroom door swing open. I looked over the tub, and two curious crimson red eyes stared back at me. Adela stood in the doorway, her snowy white fur standing out against the black counter. I quickly covered myself what little I had to do so, and she flopped down next to the tub with a little gruff "sol". I gave a mental sigh of relief, I thought she was going to jump in with me. I had thought the worst was over, and then Amanda reappeared, a little smile on her lips. She had something that looked like a cigarette smoldering in between her fingers. I gave a little _eep!_ at the sight of her, and scrambled to cover myself a little better.

She giggled as she walked over, "relax tough guy, I've seen it a million times." With that, she sat down next to Adela, her back to me. She was only a couple of inches from me, and her words didn't do much.

"Could you not do this while I'm naked?" I asked, feeling my cheeks burning. "Also, what is _that_ supposed to mean?"

She giggled again, "No, I don't mean in that sense, it's just that sometimes we had to shower together. No big deal." She said, taking a puff from the cigarette. The smoke she blew out was bright purple, and smelled like coffee and mint.  
"Either way, could you just wait a little bit until I'm done?"

"No." She said simply, looking over her shoulder with her good eye, a smirk on your lips. "I want to talk to you."

Despite my current position in this, I couldn't help but feel a tinge of curiosity. I raised a brow, "oh yeah? About what?"

"About what's going to happen now that Josh is gone." She replied, and turned around, laying her arms on the edge of the tub, resting her head on them. She had that cute smile on her face again, clearly enjoying my reaction to this.  
"You said, you loved me, right? Isn't this what you want?" She cooed, her voice the texture of buttermilk.

I vigorously shook my head, "No! First of all, I would never do that to you unless, you know, I had your consen-"

"You can do whatever you want with me." She interrupted, in her smooth voice. She had her good eye half closed, but I could tell she was playing with me, her smile said it all.

"Didn't you say you wanted to talk to me?" I said defensively, desperately trying to change the subject.

She sighed, "fine, have it your way." She said, turning back around and taking another puff from her cigarette. "So, _Francis,_ " she said as she blew out smoke, "what made you come back? Or more importantly, what made you leave? Everything not what you wanted in the perfect little world you've created?"

"I didn't leave Amanda; I woke up in my old world." I said gently, a little hurt. "Trust me when I say this, I didn't want to leave. Or any of this to happen, for that matter."

She nodded, "Fair enough." She said, taking another puff of her cigarette, or whatever it was.

"What about you? How are you doing? He got you pretty good, it looks like." I said gently, knowing full well I was walking on eggshells. I looked at the her bruised back as I said this, and a scrape of leftover anger blitzed through my body.

Amanda took another drag from her cigarette, and she said through the smoke, "I don't know, Jo-" she stopped herself, " _Francis._ I had it coming. But I don't want to talk about that right now." She glanced over her shoulder, "is that okay?"

I nodded, "yeah, sure. But you should know as well as I do its not healthy to wall off something like that."

Amanda smirked, "I think I can handle it. What about you? What were you doing while I had to deal with him?"

"I woke up in my old life. In my own world, and you were gone. I had thought that it was over with. The thought of never being able to see you again, it nearly crushed me."

"And?" She asked, looking over her shoulder. "Clearly, something must have kept you going. What, you already forgot about me?"

I flinched, "No. I found this little pendant of you. And when I looked at it, somehow I knew everything was going to be okay," I said.

"What does it look like?"

"It's in the shape of a silver heart. One side is blank, the other has a little picture of you." I said, smiling. "You have a beautiful smile in it," I added.

Amanda looked away, and I could have sworn I saw a little red bloom in her cheeks. "Thank you," she said rather hesitantly. "I want to see it, did you…?"

I shook my head sadly, "no, I'm not sure where it went. I had it in my pocket the last time I remember, but that was in another world."

Amanda stood up and walked to the pile of dirty clothes and began rooting through the pockets. I leaned over the edge of the tub, pointing to the pants. "It's in the right pocket."  
She stuck her hand in the pocket, froze for a second, and slowly withdrew her hand. To my amazement, shining in the light, was the pendant. She held it in her hand, looking at the picture of herself with a smile that I couldn't recognize.

"I remember when this was taken," Amanda said distantly. "Right after I evolved, Josh took this photo. That was a… long time ago. He was a different person then. So much pride, back then. He loved us, and we were a family. We still are, I suppose, only…"

"Only I'm no longer part of it," I finished.

She shook her head, and touched her black eye. "No, I guess he isn't."

I lifted a brow, "does that mean…?"

Amanda shrugged, and sighed. "I don't know, Francis. How can you even be sure that he's gone forever? You surely weren't there yesterday."

Ouch.

"I know I let you down, and to be completely honest, I don't even know if I will be here tomorrow. All I can do is do anything I can to make it up to you."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah."  
She smirked, a sly twinkle in her eye. "Alright, luvdisc. There _is_ something you can do for me. Give me your hand." She said as she extended her own and walked up to me.

I did as I was asked, but pulled back when she neared me. "What are you gonna do?" I asked hesitantly, a brow raised towards her.

"Relax, just give me your hand. I'm going to… um, just give me your hand."

I looked at her, not trusting that twinkle in her eye, but nevertheless I let her clasp hers in mine. Couldn't help but notice how soft it was.

"Close your eyes," she said, her voice growing soft, but serious.  
I did so, waiting for something to happen. I could hear Amanda's voice, her breath growing steady. "Now, I'm just going to…"  
She grew quiet, the sound of my heartbeat replacing her voice. It became louder and louder, to the point where it was thumping in my ears. My entire head was trembling and vibrating with every beat.

Amanda's voice, booming in my head, "Okay, I got it. I want you to repeat this after me."  
" _Okay!"_ I shouted over the sound of my own heartbeat.

I could feel her physically flinch, and draw in a little gasp of air. "Not so loud. Okay, say this exactly after me. I will,"

 _"I will,"_

"Solemnly swear,"

 _"Solemnly swear."_

"To devote my life for the upbringing and preservation,"

 _"To devote my life for the upbringing and preservation."_

"To any and all pokemon whom I capture."

 _"To any and all pokemon whom I capture."_

"And on this day, I, Amanda, swear unto you, that I will be by your side until the end. Through love, through loss, your burdens are mine."

 _"And I, Francis, um, do the same."_

She giggled, "That's good enough."

With that, the thundering heartbeat in my ears ceased, but I could still feel something lingering in my head. Something that felt reassuring, that told me Amanda was here with me. It was like a tiny weight in my head, and every time I reached to grab it, Amanda's face appeared before my eyes.

"That's my presence." Amanda said with a smile. "Our minds are connected now." _"And now I can do this."  
_ My jaw dropped. She said that, but her mouth didn't move. Yet I heard her say it, clear as a bell.

"Telepathy? Are you joking? Can I do it too?" I asked a little too eagerly. _"Sure. Just think of me, and say something in your head."_

I concentrated, and thought, _"this is really cool."_

Amanda flinched a little, _"not so loud. It takes some time to get used to, but don't worry. Josh was much worse."_

 _"Wait, so does that mean if I think anything, you can hear it?"_

Amanda shook her head, "no, only when you're thinking of me can I hear you," she said aloud.

I nodded, "okay, this isn't so bad. So, does this mean…?"

She nodded, letting go of my hand. "I am yours. What you do with that, is up to you." Amanda replied, if not with a touch of deviousness.

I couldn't help but smile, "What a way to start, with me being…" I motioned to the bathroom.

She smiled in return, "it's not so bad. Memorable, at least."

That was how it started. She knew it the second we connected, that she found what was buried in my heart. A spark, provided mostly by me, but a spark that she was willing to tend for. I think she was curious about it, mostly because she never had someone to call her own. Josh, well – _That's_ a different story. Give it a shot, see what happens, is what she might have thought. Why the hell not? We've got nothing better to do.

Right?


	7. Chapter 6

**Author's note: So, chapter 6 is kind of the testing grounds, I'm trying out a lot of different things, to get a feel for how I want the story to continue (most likely I will keep it this way). I want to keep the format, and keep a solid perspective (1** **st** **person) as well as a solid reference of time (he said vs. he says). You'll see that consecutiveness in this chapter. In earlier chapters, it jumped around a lot. I think what I've done is the best way to tell the story – if you think otherwise, or have anything to object, let me know! I'm writing this story for your enjoyment, as well as my own, of course. If you see a problem, or see something should be added and/or something isn't clear, by all means drop a message.**

 **Chapter Six  
** **Hate Me, I Only Loved You**

It's hard to describe what it felt like to be connected with Amanda. Think of it as though you were constantly over the phone with someone. You can only hear their voice – no face, no idea of any action that person is doing, just a voice. Now say you're thinking of something in particular; for example, I was thinking of a certain song. Clear as bell, yet completely unexpected, Amanda bubbled in my head, _"what song is that?"_

I heard it in my head, but the sensation felt as though it originated from an outside source, as if she were right next to me. I can safely say it is for a fact _completely_ disorienting, hearing it in your head and listening to it from your ears at the same time. Amanda said I'll eventually get used to it, and I did, but every now and again I jumped out of my seat when she picked up on one of my thoughts and decided to comment on it.

Another thing – what Amanda liked to call her "presence". Normally, when she wasn't thinking exclusively about me, I could hardly feel it. But if I were to be talking to her, either telepathically or audibly, her presence gained this notable _weight._ As though there was a small thumb pressing down on the right side of my head, and it pushed harder and harder the more I interacted with her. Was it unpleasant? Sometimes. Particularly, as I began to notice, when she wasn't in a good mood, or was not thinking very nice things about me. If she wanted to, she could really make it hurt, or so she warned me. The worst she had ever intentionally caused was the equivalent of an ice pick gently poking my brain. Not even hard; very mild, yet uncomfortable enough to where you could never relax. There is never really a "pleasurable" sensation however, just a feeling of being there. Easily though, the weirdest/coolest trait of her presence has to be the ability to gain an augmented form of sight.

Think of virtual reality, it's kind of like that. It was not always "on", and really, it was only there to grasp a visualization of the brain and the thinking processes between me and Amanda. A way to categorize and navigate the brain. A user interface, to make things coherent within the seemingly chaotic chatter of the mind. Memories? Put 'em in the memories folder. Want to look at said memory? Pull it out of the folder. As a whole, creating a UI took a _long_ time for me to grasp, but with a lot of practice from Amanda, together we both created a way for us to visualize certain things. Before I had the practice down however, Amanda had resorted to cruder ways of sorting through my thoughts. Which quite literally included her picking through my brain.

" _Ow."_ I flinched as Amanda partially slipped an eye open, cracking the glass wall of her focus. She quickly closed her good eye again, and the slight pricking sensation became less… _prickly._

 _"Sorry, sorry! I thought I heard something,"_ she said inaudibly.

 _"Are you almost done here? I don't think I can stand much more of your prodding,"_ I complained. A headache was starting to worm its way in due to her constant data probes, which, if she continued, would blossom into a hammering migraine; my entire head throbbing to the _thrum-thrum_ of my heart.

 _"It's not my fault your puny human brain can't handle my powers,"_ she said smugly. _"Besides, you signed up for this, remember?"_ She sent me an image, albeit crudely drawn up, of a naked me sitting in the bath tub holding her hand, reciting the oath we made.

I was already forming a counter-attack for her retort when Amanda pulled out, bringing with her a transparent square folder, glowing purple on each of its four edges. I still was very new at the augmented view feature that came with the agreement, and the only reason I had access was due to the fact Amanda supplied the necessary "power" to invoke the process. Since I couldn't do it myself, she only used it when she wanted me to see something. This time it was another memory, and as she held it up to view, I found it was of me walking to school with my best friend and eventual girlfriend. The short replay was of me talking about The Amory Wars, a comic book series I was infatuated with during the time. It played for about a minute, then faded away as the memory reached an end. She watched with great interest, and I sensed from her a feeling of nostalgia. She was about to hit the replay button that popped up when I gently put my hand over hers. I looked at her, my eyes saying _I get it._

She smiled, put down the memory folder, "I do that sometimes," she said aloud. "Something about the allure for the past just… captures my attention."

"Where I'm from they call that nostalgia." I said.

She tilted her head ever so slightly, her face blank but her mind whirring like a well-designed engine. "Really?" She said distantly, and I caught faint traces of her thoughts, a sliver of sun here, a tinge of green grass there. The general summary of her thoughts left me feeling slightly refreshed, as though I had dipped my feet in the fountain of youth.

Amanda, who had already noticed my invasion of her recollection, watched me with a curious smile as I felt it ebb away, leading me back to the world of reality. Well, maybe reality. I'm still not so sure this is all real.

"What did you see?" She asked, her bright ruby red eyes studying me. Her other eye had stopped swelling in the past week or so, I had lost track of time since we connected. It was still visible, but the bruises were fading fast. Since then every day had been a new experience; we would sit down at the big onyx wood table in the kitchen and let our minds wander. Some days were fun; we would construct elaborate scenarios and act them out in gall and vigor, slaying space pirates, or in Amanda's case, taking down Team Magma in one fell swoop. Other days we delved deep into another's egos, laying down the framework that would eventually grow to be the user interface to traverse each other's mind. Of course, when you are as deep into the mind of a gardevoir as I had been, you get to see things. I witnessed many, many things, but that is for a later time.

I shrugged, "Not much. Clips of grass, some bits of sunlight. The feeling though, _wow._ What was that?"

She smiled, and cast her eyes downward, "I was thinking about my parents. What you got to see is most of what I remember. Visually, at least. You know about our evolutionary cycle, right?" She asked.

I nodded, "yeah, starts out with a ralts, then kirlia…"

She nodded in return, "correct. When we are a ralts, emotion is unrefined, raw. We don't see so much as we _feel,_ understand?"

"Yeah, I get it. Is that all you remember?"

Amanda sighed, and nodded. I suddenly felt like I needed a cigarette. "Pretty much. I was very young when Josh caught me. The emotional backlash was, well. It wasn't fun." She still had her eyes downcast, and her mood grew dreary.

"But Josh, wasn't he…?"

She looked up, an innocent light captured in her eyes, "Oh, no, don't get me wrong Josh was a great trainer. _You_ are a great trainer. Remember when you told me Josh took me to the caves down in Dewford? That did happen. He cared for me, he treated me the best he could manage," her voice grew soft again, compared to the somewhat edgy and clipped tone she takes on when she's teaching me. "But I look back, and I can only see what he lacked. He lacked the compassion you and I share, this bond we have- "she suddenly grabbed my hand, startling me, not so much that she grabbed it, but the jolt of energy that shot across my arm and through my body.

"Is something that I haven't felt since I was a ralts. Never, in the twelve years that Josh and I worked together, had he ever gone as deep mentally as you had in the few weeks you've been here. I'm experiencing things that I thought were long dead inside of me. And I'm discovering new things, too. You allow me to express who I am, you're open to mistakes, you let me change and influence your personality as much as you are changing mine. I've never…" She paused, and cast her eyes downward and said barely above a whisper, "I don't know."

Within the blossoming purple aura that surrounded Amanda, I could see the tinge of frustration as she bit down on her words. So naturally, I finished for her, "And now, it's safe to say that you love me?"

Amanda looked at me, and I could see her mind, passionate with something she couldn't comprehend, slowly wind down with the mention of that word. She sighed, and gingerly let go of my hand, "I want to say yes, but I just…" She trailed off, and the room stood silent for a few mind-wrenching seconds. She opened her mouth, "You know what Josh has done. He's done more than you know. Every one of us has been affected by him. Even after everything, and even though it was _you_ the whole time, Josh was a person. I loved him like he was family. I don't know if I can do it all over again."

I leaned back in my chair, and sighed. In an effort to hide my disappointment, I said, "well, you know what they say. Time heals all wounds."

She smiled, and her cheeks turned slightly red, "I haven't heard that one. I like it though, like all of your weird quotes."

I shrugged, "well, what can I say? I guess my planet is better than yours."

Amanda scoffed, with a tight smile on her lips she said, "Yeah right! You hunt down your animals, at least we treat them with care."

"At least we don't put them in giant arenas and make them battle until one of them drops," I countered.

"You're right, you don't. You grind them up and eat them." She said, knowing I wouldn't have something to come back with that.

"Watch your mouth, I'm the one who created you, remember?"

"Excuse me, Mr. oh-so-mighty, how petty do you have to be to fall in love with one of your own creations?" She said mockingly.

"Hey, you're in love with me, too! You just can't admit it because I killed your other boyfriend and took his body." I said with a matter of fact.

She burst into laughter over my remark, her gloved hands covering her mouth. Between fits of laughter she said, "that's so stupid! I'll never admit it now, you jerk!" She said playfully, one hand still covering her mouth and the other fending off my hand, which was currently trying to entangle itself with hers. She lost the battle, and as I wrapped my hand into hers I could feel a warm wave of energy pulse throughout my arm, engulfing my body. I breathed slightly inward, letting it wash over me. Amanda smiled at me, her eyes glowing with a soft light, "you're right. I guess I do love you, Francis."

Our moment was shattered when a sharp, jarring buzzing noise rang through the air. Both Amanda and I jumped at the sound, my face confused at what the noise was, Amanda's taking on annoyance at our interruption. She looked at me, and said "doorbell" to clarify, getting up. We kept our hands entwined however, and as we both neared the front door I – painstakingly – let go. She threw the bolt with a heavy _snick,_ and opened the door. Standing there was a woman with blazing red hair, her arms crossed over her large chest. In big, white letters, almost as big as her chest, her shirt read, _STARGASM!_ She looked at Amanda with surprise, "what the…" Then looked at me, irritated, "I thought you got rid of her!" she said, sweeping a lock of hair from her eyes as fiercely as her hair. She took her hands off of her chest to do this, and her bosom bounced up and down with her motions.

I was once again put on the spot, not sure who this person was, or why she was yelling at me. "Erm, can I help you…?" I tried.

The girl looked at me, scrunched up her face, about to reply but before she could Amanda pulled her inside, took a look around from outside, glanced at the rapidash that was fastened to a nearby tree, and slammed the door shut. The woman yelled out in surprise, but Amanda quickly shut her up when she pinned her to the wall, a fistful of the woman's shirt in her grasp. "Listen to me, I'm not saying this twice," Amanda said lowly, her face inches from the woman's. She suddenly looked more like a scared little girl. "I've dealt with your crap for a _long_ time. But you will _not_ show up at our house and address me like you just did anymore." Amanda let go of her, and without another word walked away into the kitchen.

I watched this unravel with a sense of restrained calm; wanting to help the poor woman but at the same time fearing the wrath of Amanda if I did. I could still feel it as she walked away, white anger ebbing away into the walls, the heat slowly backing down into cool air. I rushed to the woman, whose mouth was open in a shocked _O._ Her red eyes looked at me in disbelief, "did that just happen…?" She said breathlessly, her thumb jutting out towards the hallway. I simply nodded, "yeah I guess that did." I said, helping her up. "I'm really sorry, but I have no idea why she just did that, or who you are."

Her shock gave way into confusion, and then transformed into anger, "Whaddya mean you don't know who I am! What the hell is going on here?! And why is that _thing_ still here!?"

I bit my tongue at the mention of _thing,_ and with steady calm I said, "if you could just tell me who you are, I'm sure I can figure this out."

"Flannery, you fucking dope! Can't believe you don't know who I am. I've been worried sick about you! You called me three weeks ago and never show up, I had the press ready and everything. What, did you change your mind or something?"

I sighed, it all clicked together. I rubbed my face with my hands, and through them I said defeated, "yeah, I guess I did. Look I'm sorry, but- "

She put a hand on my shoulder, and suddenly the irritation melted away on her face. "All you needed to say was sorry. I really was worried about you Josh. But you need to listen to me." Her grip on my shoulder tightened, "your gardevoir is out of control. She needs to be put down _now_ , before she hurts someone. Someone like me."

Amanda scoffed in my head, as if saying, _go ahead and try_. I shot her a mental glare, and her presence backed down, but I knew she was still listening. "Listen Flannery, you need to calm down, okay? Let's start things off by saying _I am not Josh._ I'm Francis, nice to meet you. It's a little complicated, but I'm sure if _all of us_ ," I called aloud, looking in the direction of the kitchen, "keep a cool head, we can get through this smoothly."

She looked at me, looked toward the kitchen, then back at me. With a mixture of confusion and disgust she said, "dude, did you _reconnect_ with her? Okay Josh, you have some explaining to do. Right now."

I looked her dead in the eye, annoyance creeping it way in, "I just told you my name isn't Josh. It's Francis. Amanda is my partner. Understand?"

She slapped me across the face, hard. " _You're_ my partner you fucking _idiot! Your name is Josh! That crazy bitch twisted your mind, why do you think_ you were going to get rid of her?!" She cried, and I could see tears welling up in her bright red eyes. Almost like Amanda's, but not quite. They were dull, faded from years of exposure to something I don't know about.

I held my stinging cheek, and with a firm, clipped voice, "Do that again Flannery, and I'll have to kick you out."

She looked at me, hope draining from her face, and she tore past me, bursting into tears, ripping the door open and slamming it shut. I opened the door just in time to see her mounting a clearly dazed rapidash, and looking at me once more, forcefully wiping away her tears. "The pokemon administration will hear about this, Josh!" She called out, "and when they do, _when they take away that fucking gardevoir,_ don't you dare come calling for me again, _you piece of shit!"_ screamed in a high pitched voice, sounding more childish than threatening. With an equally immature _hiyah!_ , she stampeded off, the rapidash whinnying in agitation. Flannery left with a cloud of dust at her step, leaving me standing in the doorway, worrying for the future that lay near.


	8. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

 **The Iron Baron, A Bad Conductor of Lightning**

I sighed, watched the cloud of dust obscure into nothing, and slowly closed the door. I leaned against it, covering my face with my hands, unsure of what to think. When I opened my eyes again, I could see a pair of ruby red eyes peering at me from around the corner, and could feel her mentally as well, her uncertainty clouding my mind.

"I'm sorry," she whispered from her place in the corner. She looked like a little girl who was caught with her hand in the cookie jar.

"Don't be," I said, taking my weight off the door and walking towards Amanda. "I suppose it was bound to happen."

"I'm sorry I blew up on her. But… but I just couldn't take her anymore!" She said, with a surprising amount of force.

I came up to her, saw the way she folded her hands and let her gaze drift downward, was faintly reminded of how many times Josh had been in this position of power, only things would take a much more violent turn. I put my hand on the back of my head, sighed, "it couldn't be helped," I said, and I put my index finger on her chin, raising her head to meet my gaze, "so don't worry about it. We'll figure something out."

Amanda's downtrodden eyes instantly brightened, and before I knew it she tackled me into a hug, her dress billowing up from the sudden explosion of movement. Her spike poked painfully into my chest, but for the moment I barely felt it, in the mix of surprise and enjoyment, I couldn't help but laugh, and then she was laughing too, from relief, and from my acceptance of her gesture. She slowly parted from me, picking her dress from my knees, and with barely any thought, wrapped her hand into mine. She looked at it, and then to me and beamed at me.  
"Thank you Francis."

The next few days went uninterrupted. Nobody, at least not yet anyway, came pounding on the heavy black oak door. We continued our mental conditioning as though nothing had ever happened. However, the more time passed, the more Amanda became distraught. By no means did she display it physically, but I could see it as clear as day, her emotional and mental state, of which concerned the girl with the fiery red hair. I would wake up in the middle of the night, and I could hear Amanda in the next room in my head, catch glimpses of her dreams. They included flashes of bright red, and the sound of boots on the march. It didn't do much to ease my anxiety, as well.

One morning, as I sipped this world's equivalent of hot chocolate, which, weirdly enough, left a strong aftertaste of peanut butter in the mouth, Adela slipped in the kitchen, her nails clicking on the floor. I regarded her with mild interest, she mostly kept to herself when I was around. I have tried to be affectionate to her, offering scratches behind the ear, treats, but almost always she would saunter off, her tail high in the air, muttering a soft "sol". This time around she came right up to me, and rubbed her head up against my leg, almost exactly like a cat. I put down my cup and scratched her head, a rough growling purr escaped from her throat, like a cougar purring. She opened one crimson eye, and took a step back, encouraging me to get up. I did, and she trotted into the living room, stopping to look back at me to see if I was following. Intrigued, I did follow her, and she led me to the middle of the room, stopping just next to the couch. I looked around, trying to figure out what she wanted from me. Adela muttered a soft "sol", looking at the skylight above her. I followed her gaze, looking at the swollen gray overcast sky.

I shrugged, "okay, it's the sky," I said, looking back at her, "what about it?"

"Sol!" She said in her rough voice, gesturing towards the sky. I didn't understand what she was trying to tell me, Amanda would probably help me out. I was thinking about waking her, and then the doorbell rang, startling both of us. I knew it would ring eventually, but even so I quickly felt butterflies in my stomach. I stopped for a second, thinking what to do. Amanda probably heard it, should I let her answer it? But then again, who lets their pokemon answer the door? I quickly strode back into the kitchen, and Amanda appeared behind me, putting a soft hand on my shoulder. I glanced at her, she looked as concerned as I felt. I gave a brief nod, and we both went to the front door. I disengaged the lock, and opened the door, just as the man in front of me was about to ring the bell a second time. The man looked at me in much the same way Flannery did, regarding Amanda with an expression of unexpected surprise. As quickly as it came however, it disappeared under a charming smile, the hand that was on its way to ring the doorbell now quickly rerouted in front of me, open for a greeting. I took it cautiously enough, and the man introduced himself in much the same way a salesperson does when shaking on a deal – pumping my hand once, with a much too strong grip.

"Howya doing, the name's Banner. We're part of the administration, stopped by because of some kinda complaint. Inspection, you see? We did, after all, pay for your house," he said, ending the last note with a smug grin. He was physically sweating, and his eyes were darting from one place to the next. He looked very strained, from what however, I couldn't tell. I suppose more than a few people knew about the power of the pokemon that stood next to me.

I was about to answer, and then Amanda poked me in my head, mentally gestured toward to right of my view. Banner followed the curtail of my attention, turning around as I opened the door wider. Just out of view, an enormous behemoth of a man stood under the gray sky, with his monstrous hands clasped over another. He gave us a hint of a smile, and reared one hand up in a wave.

"Oh, yeah, that's my buddy Iron. Don't need to worry about him," Banner exasperated, "he's only here as insurance, see?"

I nodded, "okay, well, uh what exactly are you here to inspect?" I asked.

Banner grinned a wide grin, clearly happy that things were running smoothly again. "Just here to look at the house, check on your pokemon. See if everything is going A-okay, okay? You gonna let us in or not?"

"Sure, I guess," I said, stepping aside to let him in. He scampered inside, I was about to close the door but just then the man called Iron filled my view, blocking the door. I took a step back, knocking into Amanda. He smiled, entered through the doorway and closed the door behind him.

I laughed nervously, "Iron, is it? You call yourself that?"

The smile dropped from his lips, and with a swiftness that I would have never thought possible from a man of that size, he passed by me, saying, "No, everyone else does." he boomed dreadfully.

I entered the kitchen to Banner sitting on the counter, smoking the same cigarettes Amanda uses. He looked much more relaxed compared to before. Purple smoke blew through his nose, and after a pause, he said, "all right, first thing is first, kiddo. We're not from the administration. We came because you pissed off the wrong girl. And now it's taking everything we got to keep the masses from ripping your guts out and hanging you with it."

Once again, I was left speechless. Amanda picked up, "what? What did Flannery do?"

Banner squinted at her like she just said something offensive, "didn't know she talked. Most trainers keep 'em from picking it up," he said, flicking his gaze to me.

When I didn't say anything, he continued, "anyway, that red-haired bitch took to the media to talk all about how you "abused" her. Not that you're very much liked anyway, but the hook-up between you and Flannery was your saving grace. Now that that's gone, nothing is stopping you from getting the big ol' boot. Now you see, we need you. Because they want Wally as your successor. We can't have that, because Wally is their goddamn star child. He'll do anything the administration wants. And as we all know, that can't happen.

" _Oh, shit."_

"Oh shit," I said aloud, and Amanda punched me on the arm.

Banner nodded in agreement, "yeah, so-"

"No, nonono, not that." I said, waving my hands in front of me, and then rubbing my eyes. "fucking hell, this all screwed up."

Banner looked at me, and then to Iron. The big guy shrugged. "What do you mean?" Banner asked.

I looked at the two of them, "look, my name is supposed to be Josh, right?"

Banner grew increasingly confused, "yeah," he said, long and drawn out.

"Well, it's not. I'm not the person who you think I am."

Banner snorted in defiance, "the fuck you talking about kid, you're the champion aren't ya? You've got a twin or something?"

"Josh is no longer here. At all. This is Francis," Amanda said softly. "I don't understand it myself, but Francis essentially replaced Josh. He looks the same person, but he has no recollection of what Josh did in his former life."

Banner took this in silently, letting the cig smolder in between his fingers. While he waited, a heavy curtain of rain began to pound on the roof. Thunder rumbled in the distance. At last, he said, "what. The. F—"

"Wait!" Iron suddenly boomed, and he tore off his sunglasses. Beneath them, his eyes were wide, and he regarded Amanda and I with incredulity. He reached into his jacket, and took out a small pocket version of a book, and slammed it on the counter. On the cover, it read, "The Hoenn Emancipation for Dummies".  
A stroke of thunder clashed through the sky, lighting Iron's face, making him look like a ghost.

"What, big guy? What're you goin' on about?"

Iron pointed at me with a shaking, meaty finger, "It-it's just like in the book! The fucking stories, man! The kid who doesn't know who he is! And he's got _rayquaza!_ The stories man! It's just like the stories!"

Just then, Adela burst into the kitchen, her claws skidding on the floor. She crashed into the counter, but apparently unfazed, she leapt up on her feet, all the while crying out, "sol! Absol! Absol!"

Amanda covered her mouth, having translated the gist of it, and I looked at her, trying to figure out what in the hell was going on. Iron, who looked at Adela the same way a deer does to an oncoming train, nearly jumped into the refrigerator, his booming voice yelling, "AN ABSOL! OH, FATHER OF ARCEUS, IT'S JUST LIKE THE FUCKING STORIES, MAN! WE'RE FUCKING DOOMED!"

Amanda grabbed my sleeve and hauled me past the feverous giant, who scrambled away from Adela as though she were a plague victim. She grabbed the shouting absol by the scruff of her neck, and pulled us into the living room. Adela gained her own footing and tore past us, directly to the window in the center of the living room, barking sharply in her gruff voice. Above us, the grey sky had swollen into an obscure purple, and thunder rumbled deep throughout the house, ambling its way into my skull, making me see double from the vibrations.

Amanda's mental voice cut through the booming thunder, and shouting just to keep herself heard, "it's rayquaza! It's making his way to us! I know you know you captured it, but it's not so cut and dry!"

I yelled back, "what are they going on about this story?! Why now?!"

Amanda only looked at me, knowing that answer as about as much as I did. We both looked up at the sky, and there, streaking through the clouds, I could see flashes of bright yellow, and even through the rumbling of thunder, distant inhuman cries, something that reminded me of a T-rex. A flash of lightning tore through the sky, and with a brilliant flash of light and sharp crack of thunder, rayquaza broke through the clouds, its enormous forest green dragon-like body slithering through the air, and suddenly stopped before us, in full view as I stared from the skylight. I could see its yellow reptilian eyes looking first at me, and then to Amanda. As the thunder subsided, and I could finally hear myself again, I noticed that rayquaza was growling, deep and low. And then, as if it noticed me infringing up it, rayquaza hissed, not much like that of a snake but more a cat.

Amanda's hand touched my shoulder, and I jumped, tearing my gaze away from rayquaza. She gripped my shoulder, her ruby red eyes soft despite the chaos going on. I smiled at her, and felt her hand lightly touch my temple. As if turning the volume up on a radio, a yelling, rage-filled voice clanged into my head.

"… _dare you! I serve one master and one alone, you cannot simply switch plac-"_

It stopped, and rayquaza turned its gaze to me, _"the boy can understand us?"_ He said lowly, making my eardrums ring.

Amanda's voice rang out, small but not shaking in the slightest, _"yes."_

" _Hmm. It would seem he has already surpassed the former champion,"_ rayquaza remarked coolly. He seemed to be studying me, but hard to tell by just his voice. _"Well?"_ Rayquaza boomed, " _say something, boy!"_

" _Erm, I'm uh, not too sure what's going on here."_ I stammered.

Rayquaza chuckled, deep and brooding, _"of course you don't."_ He said smugly, _"I don't even know what to call you, because you certainly are not a creation of Arceus. You do not belong here, so why have you appeared before us? And why do you appear to be courting one of our own? I realize that you are unfamiliar with our ways, but to do this in a time like now, you are a fool!"_

" _I'm sorry rayquaza, but, well, what you see is what you get. If you're asking me to stop…"_

" _Stop?"_ Rayquaza laughed both mentally and physically, and a great heaving escaped from his mouth. _"I could not stop you if I wanted to! Even though you are not my master, you are still my master, do you understand?"_

I nodded slowly, pretending that I did, _"so if you didn't come here to stop me, then what did you come here for?"_

Rayquaza stretched his mouth, in what looked like a smile. It sent chills down my spine, _"call it a warning, boy,"_ He said viscously. _"Arceus will not be so forgiving. It would be wise to stop creating such chaos for those around you, else God himself will strike you down!"_

" _I've never seen Arceus in my life. What makes you so certain?"_ Amanda replied skeptically.

" _My dear little gardevoir, just because you are more powerful than I does not make you just as smart. I am still a deity, and arceus himself has shown me the coming signs."_ Rayquaza replied with a trace of annoyance, _"it would serve you well to keep your doubts to yourself, after all it was He who created you. He can do just as much in the opposite direction, as well."_

" _Is that supposed to be a threat?"_ I picked in, frustrated by rayquaza's condescending tone, frustrated by all the various shades of wrong that came knocking on our doorstep, _"well here's a tip for you big guy, why don't you get your big green ass out of here, before I have Amanda kick it for you?!"_

Rayquaza laughed aloud, a screeching roar mixed with a series of hiccups. Unimpressed, he neared towards me until the yellow slit of his eye filled the skylight, " _a feisty one, huh? Well, have your fun! I did my job, if you will not heed my warning…"_ The horrible yellow slit turned its gaze to Amanda, who took a slight step back, and curled her hands into fists, _"I cannot stop you. But pray to whatever it is you believe in, that someone will."_

Satisfied and chuckling to himself, rayquaza withdrew from the skylight and flew back into the clouds, the sounds of his screeching laughter reverberating through the air. To me, it sounded like screaming.


	9. Chapter 8

**I'm sorry this chapter took so long to take out. Guess you could say it took me a year… heh. Kill me. Anyway, enjoy the chapter, I'm already sorta half done with chapter 9, so hopefully it shouldn't be long until 9 comes out as well. Enjoy!**

 **Chapter 8**

… **You're Gonna Need a Bigger Boat**

As the rain unloaded its payload over our roof, Amanda and I were left to ponder over rayquaza's words. The two questionable thugs known as Iron and Banner had decided to cower under the heavy wooden table in the kitchen, Banner looking like a small child squatting next to the enormous man, Iron. A single thigh was bigger than Banner's waist, yet somehow, Iron had somehow managed to squeeze himself in under the table. Amanda looked at the two, and then rolled her eyes, as the two peeked out from under the table.

"Is-is it over?" Banner squeaked.

Amanda nodded, crossing her arms, "you can get out from under the table now," she said in a flat tone. One hand was glowing slightly blue, just in case they got stuck. With growing apathy, I watched the two unfold themselves, and they did in fact get stuck. I turned my attention away from the two, and picked up the small, flimsy paperback Iron had taken out of his coat he had abandoned in the chaos. It was well worn from probably years of carrying, the cover made of a soft leather-like material, but hardened like glass when I applied pressure. The title, "The Hoenn Emancipation for Dummies", was faded, it once had gold trim around the letters. No author was given, as I flipped through the book, stopping at the various bookmarks and sticky notes marked on the pages. One stop led me to a systematic guide on how to earn a Hoenn citizenship license, and in small, neat handwriting, a note tacked on the page said,

" _If you can't beat 'em, join 'em! – Benny"._

"Hey!" Iron's enormous voice shook the kitchen, reverberated throughout the entire house, "Give me that!" He boomed.

I looked up to see that hulk of a man sprinting toward me, making the floor shake with each step. I gave a little " _eep!"_ at the sight of him, and scrambled out the way as he snatched the book from my hands, and with his other, he grabbed the back of my shirt. I felt myself picked up, "why you little-"

He was cut off, because Iron himself was being lifted off the ground as well, a light blue aura encircling him, pulsing as he writhed about from its grip, trying to escape.

Amanda, with her arms still crossed, held a squirming, floating Banner with one hand about three feet away from her, and her other with her index finger pointed at Iron. "Trade you," she said, an eyebrow raised and a smirk on her face. For a second, I could see the big cogs churning in his mind, weighing his options. But Iron knew, like any other reasonable person, that he was completely outclassed, and so, reluctantly, he let go of me. I dropped to my feet, shaken, but otherwise unharmed. Amanda swiped her hand in a casual fashion, much like one would on a smartphone, and Banner flew into Iron's arms with a yelp. We stood on opposite ends of the kitchen for a moment, divided, staring at another.

"Well," I said.

"Well." The two replied.

"We both know what happened back there," I said.

"You're right, we do," Banner said, climbing off Iron, dusting his cargo shorts. "Question is, what're we gonna do 'bout it? Ain't that right, big guy?"

Iron simply nodded, his arms crossed, quickly regaining his eerie presence. Somehow, in between the time it took to grab Banner and release me, he had put on a pair of aviator-style shades, in the already barely-lit kitchen.

"I think it would be best to keep this to yourselves," Amanda said, her voice soft and calm, "Forget this ever happened. Leave the problem to us."

Banner shrugged, "yeah we could, couldn't we? But what's in it for us?"

Amanda simply shrugged, crossing her arms, "Whatever you want. Money, items, we'll even go out and catch some pokemon."

He grinned, and all I could think about was a broker shaking on a deal, "alright honey. Forget your crap. We want unlimited stay. Here."

"No," I said, my turn to cross my arms, "this is our home, you can't just invade our privacy."

"Fine," Banner said, shrugging his shoulders, and turning his back to us. "Guess we'll have to tell the press then. I'm sure what rayquaza had to say will uplift the people's hearts," he said over his shoulder, a sleazy grin on his face. I was eerily reminded of The Joker.

I saw Amanda furrow her brows, and it took me a second to make the connection as well, "you heard everything rayquaza said? You actually heard him?" Amanda said.

Banner's confident, half-insane smile wavered just a bit, "look honey, now is not the time to play stupid, alright? You either give us what we want, or we tell the cops. End of story."

I looked at Amanda, then back to Banner, "rayquaza doesn't speak, _honey._ He _can't_ speak, he can only talk to us through telepathy. How the hell did you hear him?"

Banner's smile simply faded away, as he connected the dots, "but… but-" He turned to Iron, who shrugged his meaty shoulders and boomed, "I was wondering that myself."

Banner turned around, his index finger pointing in the air, "he was saying somethin' about a warning, right?"

We nodded.

"And didn't… Didn't he mention something about the _champion_ not being able to hear rayquaza?"

We nodded again.

Banner threw his arms up in disarray, bewilderment. "So, what?! What the fuck?!"

"I believe it is more than mere chance that we have met under these circumstances." Iron said, filling the room with his voice. "He is, after all, just like the one in the story."

"There's that story again," I said, striding past Banner, where Iron gazed at me through his shades. I swore I saw him tense up. "It's in that book, isn't it?"

He nodded, tossing me the leather-bound volume. I caught it, already open to a pre-selected section. In large text, it read, "The Newberry-Birch Tome of Ancient Absol, and its Translation."

 _In 634, second solstice, the archeological teams of Fin Newberry and Sir Howell Birch stumbled upon an ancient human-made tome, depicting a primitive, yet strikingly accurate anatomy of female and male absol. It is dated at around 315, over 800 years ago, yet there is very little aging in the pages, or signs of wear. Also included is a strange tale, a story apparently told from absol to humans. Modern absol, except in rare cases, no longer have the ability to speak, reduced to a growling, rough voice, a defining characteristic among their species. However, there are still evolutionary traces left behind that suggest that absol once had vocal cords, and upon the discovery of the ancient tome, that theory was proven. The story itself told to the humans however, is mostly unknown, as certain sections of the tome are in a completely untranslatable language. The story, from what_ has _been translated, could be best theorized as a "warning" to the future- one telling of a "human that is not of his own", whose nature could be that of chaotic. Unfortunately, there is very little evidence that even the absol themselves knew who or what this human is, or was. It also describes to a very narrow specificity the coming signs of this, the likelihood of the event happening much higher when a champion owns both an absol and gardevoir, regardless of age or gender. The very fact that absol had predicted the establishment of the pokemon administration, from a time when pokemon and humans had very little interaction with each other, is ground-breaking. This, although debatable, proves that the story, and the warning that comes with it, is a very real threat. Even today, there are avid cult followings surrounding this piece of literature, and one of the most popular traditions today, absol horn carving, has originated from the discovery of the Ancient Absol Tome. Hoenn Central Government, unlike those of other regions, maintains a somewhat overlooked branch that is dedicated to watching and researching new phenomena to certify and confirm the requirements to trigger the event, should it ever happen. While it_ is _unknown what will happen, evidence gathered over the years by this branch, known as the Absol Over Watch, or AOW, strongly suggest it could be a world-threatening event, which is to say that the triggering of this event could mean all end to life as we know it._

 _Since then, there has always been skepticism involving the nomination of a champion that happen to own both a gardevoir and absol, regardless of level. While the grounds for accusation usually lead to nothing, great caution is always exercised when a champion fulfills those certain requirements. Even so, the public's natural distrust towards champions who own an absol and gardevoir have inadvertently shined light on a fair amount of a champion's crimes throughout the ages. While some have given grounds for impeachment, none have ever "fulfilled the prophecy". Absol are reputable at making dead accurate predictions of disaster, but hopefully, this one time, they will prove to be wrong. The fate of mankind quite literally rests on this decision._

I closed the book slowly, and then looked up at Iron, whose hard, set face had softened. He looked like a damn baby with those sunglasses on, but right now I couldn't be less moved. Not by him, by what I just fucking read. I felt Amanda put a hand on my shoulder, and suddenly my knees turned to jelly, and I stumbled, Amanda grabbing me, leaning me against the wall. It was hard to breathe, in a second the atmosphere seemed to thicken, as if the air around me had gained a hundred pounds. I was drowning in open air, but Amanda didn't say anything, just looked at me almost the same way Iron was looking at me, and I looked him again but he adverted his eyes away from me.

"Holy shit," I breathed, panting hard, still looking at the big man. "Do you think…?"

Iron looked up again, his shades suddenly gone, and just then, I don't know how I missed it, but then again to this day I still don't know Iron very well, I realized he was blind. Milky white irises, one slight darker than the other, more of a light grey. He shrugged, "I don't know what to think," he rumbled meekly, and looked back down.

My eyes shifted to Banner, and he was staring at me, waiting for me to say something, but I just stared back. He started to say something himself, but amazingly, he decided not to. A million things were running through my head, God knows –fucking hell He does –what Amanda could be tapping into. I pushed myself off the wall, everyone shuffling a little bit back from my sudden burst of energy. I looked back at the three of them, Iron and Amanda gazing back with large sorrowful eyes, Banner in between, just looking uncomfortable. For absolutely no reason at all, I felt betrayed, I felt anger boiling up out of me, turning into a rage that didn't seem like my own. I slammed the book on the counter, hard enough to echo throughout the house, and walked away.

" _Francis, wait-"_ Amanda chimed in my head, her voice so, so soft.

"Shut up," I murmured under my breath, knowing full well she could hear me. God, how that hurt saying that, but at that moment I was practically numb. I passed through the walkway, the big heavy oak front door directly in front of me.

" _Francis, wait!"_ She said harder, making me flinch, and I stopped, only for a moment.

"Amanda, please," I said, and pushed on that little thumb in the back of my head, pushed it away, practically shoved it out of a window. The pressure, already small, went away completely. She had started to say something, but she faded away, leaving me to my own thoughts. I took one look back from the hallway, didn't see anything, only my thumping head, and then opened the door and walked out of that freezing house.

The night was warm and breezy, clear and crisp after the sudden downpour that left as quickly as it came. Salt rode its way on the wind from the nearby beach, and I followed its scent, drifting away from the houses, the tall grass, the sweet scent of lavender and asphalt to the warm sands of the beach. Waves whooshed in and out, a lonely bird pokemon cried out in the dark. Wingulls circled around in the sky, silently watching me as they traced the curve of the moon in the night sky, riding the warm thermals. Eventually they took off towards the endless ocean, only then calling to another, forming a tight pack. I walked for what felt like hours, wandering the sands, watching the waves, the tiny insect pokemon as they scurried across the dunes, taking in breath after breath of salty sea air.

Eventually I heard footsteps stopping behind me, and I turned around to see Adela, my absol, sitting down on her haunches, her crimson red eyes glowing softly in the dark. I was faintly surprised, I wasn't expecting her to show up.

"I suppose you're here to bring me back, huh?"

She shook her shaggy head, her sickle-like horn gleaming off the sliver of moonlight that hung in the sky, obscured by the retreating clouds.

"Sol," she said in her gruff voice, and got up, her head turned around to make sure I would follow her.

I sighed heavily, and slowly, I did.

Adela took an alternate route that I was expecting, instead of exiting the beach, we simply walked into the woods that bordered it, and soon enough I had lost all sense of direction. Adela kept a brisk pace, nimbly trotting over branches and bramble, scurrying around startled wildlife, myself struggling to keep up. It wasn't until we both heard a heavy, deep rumbling that she began to slow down. There was no denying that sound, the heavy, sharp growl that resembled more of thunder than anything. There was a sound of snapping branches, startled squawks, yelps from numerous critters, and finally, an enormous glowing, yellow eye appeared from the tree line, focused on us, and shot into the sky, rayquaza's snake-like outline inked black in the sky. He wrapped himself in the air, like a snake poised to strike, and peered at us with the same amount of smug contempt. The moon at his back, I felt my mind flare like a cannon shot, and suddenly rayquaza's booming voice filled my head, making my body feel as though everything was vibrating within it.

" _And so! The boy learns of his destiny. Here he stands, alone, fleeing from that of which he cannot escape. How very fitting, boy!"_ He snarked, and exploded into a fit of his horrid dry-heaving laughter. Once it died down, he continued, " _I said I warned you, didn't I? How does it feel, knowing you shall be the sole person responsible for the destruction of our world? Why, it shouldn't bother you at all, really! You have not even been born into it! Wait, oh, dear me,"_ and he feigned worry, with a horrid smile, _"I almost forgot, your prec-"_

" _That is enough!"_ I roared back, both in my head and aloud, loud enough to make rayquaza flinch physically back. Adela suddenly retreated into the shadows, leaving me to deal with him myself. He hissed at my words, but quickly regained his composure, revealing multiple rows of deadly sharp teeth. I suppose it was some sort of smile, " _my my, you have some anger welled up down there, don't you? I do suppose learning of the apocalypse could bring out the worst in people."_

" _What do you want?"_ I asked coldly, hands balled into fists. Not that it would do much. _"Or are you just here to tell me I told you so?"_

Rayquaza sighed, similar an old man looking down upon a child throwing a tantrum, " _however it may seem, I feel as though I ought to tell you there is a way to avoid all of… this."_

My heart skipped a beat at the thought of it, but was quickly put into its place by skepticism, " _yeah, and how would I do that_ _?"_ I asked.

Somehow, rayquaza was able to smile even wider, from one side of his ugly head to the other, and in a low rumbling, daunting voice he simply said, " _Keegan Drop, my dear boy."_

"Keegan Drop…?" I said aloud, and rayquaza again burst into laughter, and shot into the night sky, the treetops swinging to his momentum. Rayquaza's laughter turned into a roar, echoing throughout the night. I watched him disappear into the night sky, his voice still ringing in my ears. I stayed in that position until Adela gently tugged at my pants leg, and I once more began to follow her.

We turned out on a small dirt path that led us to the back of the house, turning up in a large, well-manicured backyard. _My_ backyard, I suppose. I still have trouble wrapping my head around the fact that I own easily a million-dollar house. The grass reminded me of bluegrass, soft and springy under my feet. Adela walked beside me, brushing up against my hand every now and then, asking for affection. As I neared the rear of the house, I felt Amanda's presence once again begin to press down on my head, and at once I sensed her worry, and instantly the guilt came crashing down on me. The back door opened in front of me, revealing a very worried-looking Amanda, along with Banner peeking out from behind the door.

Amanda took one look at me, then rushed with her arms open, grabbing me into a hug.

"Don't you ever do that to me again! Oh god, I thought you wouldn't ever come back!"

I was taken aback by what she said, and gingerly put my arms around her, my guilt crushing me along with her arms, "I'm sorry," I said, staring at my feet. "What I did was stupid and immature, and-"

She pinched me, hard.

"Ow!" I cried, quickly rubbing my arm, "okay, well I guess I deserve tha- hey! Ow!"

Frustrated, Amanda pinched me again, this time holding on, "shut up and listen! I don't care what you said, or what you did, okay? What hurt me the most was that you pushed me out." She said, her voice cracking, quickly rubbing her eyes, but keeping her grip on my arm and her determination to stay mad at me.

I could see that she had been crying, and it just dawned on me that she had actually thought I wasn't coming back. She let go of my arm, and I took a step back, looking at her. She could barely keep herself together, and before I knew it, she rushed me into another hug, her dress billowing up behind her. In my ear, she whispered, "please don't push me out. Don't do what Josh did, Francis. Because then, I couldn't tell the difference between you or him."

I held her back, stared into those ruby red eyes, saw the pain that was left behind, so quick to show itself, and I said, "I'm so sorry, Amanda. I just…"

I didn't know what to say. What could I say, that hasn't already been said?

I didn't say anything. I simply rushed in, and felt my lips press against hers. We both jolted, because frankly, I didn't know what I was doing either. I could faintly hear some voice in my head, screaming at me, "WHAT'RE YOU DOING?!" I felt some other part of me laugh, another I swear started clapping. Amanda tightened her grip around me, suddenly I was shifting, as though I was being sucked into my own head. I could faintly see some kind of dam, swollen with water, just now beginning to burst. A colossal wave, seen, but just barely felt, mostly because Amanda was holding it back, keeping my brain from being fried from the raw emotion she was experiencing. I made myself think of my hand making its way to hers, and then a hole appeared, and I opened my arms to the torrent of emotion making its way to me, roaring in its wake. Wave after wave of surprise, embarrassment, love, and lust, all of it was there. Hundreds of sights, millions of smells all rushed past me, gone as quickly as it was felt. We were tossed around like grains of sand in an ocean, victims of our own love and mind. But that was alright, because we were together, for what felt like eternity. Finally, as the feeling was dying away, we parted from another, slowly making our ginger way back to earth, away from that vast ocean, receding back to reality.

Amanda smiled gingerly, small, but eager, and said in a likeness very similar to my own, "holy shit."

I, understandably, was not prepared for this, so I looked at her, and burst out laughing, crying out in peals of laughter until I doubled over and fell to the ground, my sides burning hot.

Amanda, smiling too, said, "well, it took you long enough to get back, you jerk!" she said, grabbing for my hand, and dragging me back into the house. The door slammed shut behind her, and we both stopped in front of Banner, staring wide-eyed at both of us with his mouth gaping open.

"What?" Amanda and I said in unison.

While Banner was recovering from the nuclear bomb that he had witnessed, Amanda and I decided throw a small party. We cooked purple stew that tasted like spaghetti, a huge fluffy cake that resembled angel food cake, only it was black and tasted like maple syrup. Amanda let everyone out of their pokeballs, and soon the house was buzzing with pokemon, azumarill bouncing down every hallway, constantly chattering, Ruby the heracross was strikingly more bug-like than I anticipated, she crawled up the wall and curled up, chewing on a sugar cube. Aggron was also quite docile, she took her place in the living room, and watched with bright blue eyes as azumarill zoomed around the house, Adela yipping after her, snatching at azu's tail. Amanda also let out a pair of vulpix, one little boy and one little girl. They were quite young, their fur brownish-red, looked at me with solemn eyes, crying to be fed. Amanda explained that they were orphaned, Josh had the chance to adopt, and so he did. I decided to name the two Liz and Iggy, and I quickly took to them. Soon enough, Banner and Iron had appeared for the food, chowing down as Ruby stared at them for treats, Banner throwing her a scrap every now and then. Iron ate in silence, staring straight forward, booming lowly that Banner shouldn't give Ruby his scraps.

In my quest to find drinks, I found a wooden case of wine bottles next an empty carton of cartoonish soda called _froozapop._ I showed them to Amanda, and she shrugged, I shrugged, so we took a corkscrew to the first bottle we had our hands on. Banner practically flew towards the _pop!_ of the cork, and soon the kitchen filled with the fragrance of sweet, dark cherry wine. It wasn't actually made from cherries, but damn did it taste like it.

As the night went on, I found myself looking back on what rayquaza had told me, and I felt Amanda lightly pick it up, she looked at me.

"Keegan Drop? Is that what he said?" She asked, putting down her glass. Surprisingly, it was barely touched.

I nodded, my head clouded over from my third glass of wine, "yeah, you know the place?"

Amanda shrugged, "not really, but I've heard of it. I don't know much about it, though. I think it's near Mt. Pyre?"

"Coooorrrrrect!" Banner suddenly chimed in, stumbling at first, and then leaning on the counter where we stood. He set his glass down, almost dropped it, the sweet liquid swishing dangerously near the brim, "Legeeeeeend haszit that ol' Keegan Drop iz the hoooooly ground!" He cried enthusiastically, sounding like an announcer. "That big ol' ffff- _ucker!_ Arceus iz _suppozed'ta_ appear there!"

"That's what the legends say, anyway. No one has actually reported a sighting." Iron rumbled behind us, his shades covering his eyes.

Banner whirled around, thankfully with no glass in hand and stupidly blurted out, "that's the most I've heard you say all day, ol' buddy!"

"Booze gets me talking," He replied lowly, and stood up. He put a hand on Banner's shoulder, or rather, covered his entire shoulder, and gently pulled the drunk away from us.

"I think it's time we took our leave," he said, but before Iron could take a step, Amanda put a soft hand on his muscled arm,

"No, stay. You're welcome here. At least for now."

Iron stood still for a moment, saying nothing, giving nothing away on his stone-set face. Finally, as Banner danced on Iron's arm as if it were a pole and he a stripper, he nodded abruptly and growled, "thank you." Iron turned to me for just a second, but I just waved my hand, signaling my approval. Silently, the two walked out of the kitchen, Adela running up to them, pulling at their legs, guiding them to their individual bedrooms. Azumarill paid no heed to the two, bouncing off the walls, crying for Adela to chase her once more.

I watched the scene until they walked out of my sight, Banner's cackling, laughing voice echoing through the halls, "Keeeeegan Drooop! The place of _who gives a fuck!_ " and he burst into another slew of cackling laughter, abruptly cut off by the sound of a closing door.

The house fell almost silent once more, the _"zu! Zu! Zuuuumarill!"_ slowly winding down as Azumarill ran out of energy. The house eventually fell to its normal library-level of quiet, as Amanda and I sat at the table, sipping wine, enjoying another's company. An hour passed, and we hadn't uttered a single word to another, neither audibly nor inaudibly. I supposed she knew what was on my mind, it was hard to tell at the moment, what with the wine like a dense fog in my head. Eventually, I sighed, touched her shoulder, and she perked up, breaking whatever concentration she had.

"So," I said, "what're you thinking about?"

She smiled, and leaned her weight against me, answering, "lots of stuff. You can't figure it out, can you?"

It was my turn to smile, and I held my hands up in surrender, "you got me. Guess I know why you haven't drank as much as I had."

She giggled a little, "Wine isn't very good for us, too abrasive," she said, resting her head on my shoulder. She sighed, mostly in content, "I was thinking about how this is just like old times. Minus the wine, of course. And replace the house with a tent and campfire. Every time we won a major battle, Josh would let us all out, we would celebrate… " She trailed off, losing herself in her thoughts.

"I've never really had something quite like… this," I said, gesturing to the house, and my hand brushed away a lock of her hair that fell on my cheek, "and of course I've never had anyone quite like you."

Despite my complement, I must've sparked her curiosity, because she suddenly said from her place on my shoulder, "what is it like where you come from?"

I was feeling good, and not just from the wine. Even so, I felt a coldness as I touched on what it's like back here, in the world I'm from. Before I met her, and later, after all that happened. The seemingly never-ending string of disappointment, problems. The… everything that went _wrong_ after that night. But then, I didn't know any of that, how could I? Oblivious to the cliff that loomed ahead in the dark fog, the kind with sharp, craggy rock that makes sure you don't get up, I said, "well, it's not that bad where I came from. First of all, we don't go around catching wild animals. Well, most of us don't anyway."

Amanda laughed, "Yeah, probably not. So, what do you do then?"

"I'm still in school, I'm not really sure what I want to be in college. I haven't really got around to thinking about that yet."

She tilted her head slightly, letting a lock of hair fall into her ruby eyes, "college? What's that?" She asked, in a sweet, innocent voice.

"It's a school for higher education. You know, you finish high school, and then you go to college to learn… Stuff."

"Oh, so it's like job school. That's what we call it here. You can go there to be anything you want. It's where Josh went for a few months to learn how to be a proper champion."

I nodded, "yeah, like that."

"So? Do you have any friends? Rivals? What's it like?"

I shrugged, trying to think anything worth mentioning, "I don't know, it's… for starters, there isn't so much wildlife around. We have places like this in our world, but from where I'm from there's a lot more concrete, and lot less colorful things. The food is gray, the sky is gray… I –" I stopped for a second, taking a breath. There was a gentle pricking sensation as Amanda tapped into what I was thinking, seeing what I could see, "There wasn't really a whole lot going for me," I saw my house, the crumbling one-story, with the ugly brown Nissan Z parked in the cracked paveway, piles of trash strewn around every which way.

"I mean, this place isn't real. For me, you know?" I said, and looked at her, saw her confusion, "It is real for you, at least. This is all you know, but back there, that was my reality."

I could feel Amanda walking through my thoughts and memories, she looked at the dirty laptop that, unknown to her, held her very existence. She walked through the kitchen that I did every morning, watched as my father pulled up in that stinking, rotten car. She watched my past self, a small boy, anxious to grow up, turn into a timid, skinny teenager, longing for the past. She watched as my older brother was sentenced to prison, the silent mourning of my family in the courtroom, smelling the old books and clean floors. Finally she pulled out, had enough of the images she saw, and I felt sick to my stomach, disgusted at my old existence.

"I'm sorry you had to see that," I said lowly, lowering my head, turning away from her gaze.

But she picked up my head, in much the same way I did, her face calm, sober.

"Francis, you were miserable there, weren't you?" She said gently.

I scoffed, "no, I wouldn't say that. I never had a tyrant who beat me, for one."

She shook her head, "no, but you had to live in that place, in that filth, all your life. I think that's just as bad, wouldn't you agree?"

I thought it over, but dismissed it quickly, "what does it matter anymore? I'm here with you, and that's all that matters."

But Amanda shook her head, "it does matter, Francis. We must know another, if we are to grow together. It's as simple as that. Now tell me. Tell me about yourself. I've told you enough, it's time you shared your part."

So I did. I finished off the rest of my glass of sweet wine, and started from the beginning. Where I was born, how my parents separated, eventually selling the house I was born in and moving into the smaller one-story I lived in. The degradation of my father's health, the house turning into shambles. My mother's isolation, my brother's life of crime. As I nicely put it, to which Amanda didn't fully understand, "it all went to hell."

By the time I finished, it was around midnight, and everyone but us were asleep. Amanda kept quiet throughout the entire thing, finally saying as I finished, "now I know, Francis. And I will never forget." She was facing me, her chair pulled out in front, the two of us facing another. "Josh had never told me his past, never told me anything about himself. Never wanted to. It's what kept us apart, it's what tore himself apart. Josh knew what his heart wanted, but he believed he could never obtain it. Could never learn to love, never learn to enjoy himself with others. He corrupted himself, and... well, he took his frustration out on me, and on us. But Francis, I know you. I know your story, and now you are ready," and she tapped her temple, "ready for us to pair. Not just as lovers, but as friends for life. I can never forget you, and you will never forget me." Amanda took my hand, and squeezed it. She smiled, "I love you, Francis. I loved Josh as well, for what he was and what he wasn't. But you are everything I could ever hope for, and more. I pray to you, be yourself, and don't ever change."

Amanda had tears in her eyes as images, countless images poured from her mind and flitted through my own. Amanda's life in a hundred mile an hour slideshow, filled with tinges of silver and orangish-red. My nose filled with a million different scents, I once again saw a dam crumbling in my wake, rushing out to meet me. Only this was Amanda's life, not just her emotion but everything that she is, her essence, her very being. I walked through the heavy current that flowed past, towards the ragged hole that surged with water and emotion. It ebbed away as I came near, gradually being reduced to nothing more than a trickle, and as I looked inside, I saw Amanda, encapsulated in a soft, lavender glow.

"You're my partner, Francis." She said with a smile, and caressed my cheek, "so don't screw it up, okay?"

I looked at her dumbly, and at once the feeling faded away, the ocean receding, a million different pictures, all disappearing before my eyes. I understood. The burden of emotion, of never forgetting. Every wrong done to her, a million times over. But also, the ability to love to such an extent, that it's… God, it really is like an ocean. Every right, every happy moment, every joyous occasion, done a _trillion_ times over. I simply looked at her, and smiled right back. I would make it right. Damned if I won't. I took her hand, with a goofy grin I said, "You got it."


	10. Chapter 9

**Hey. NSFW scene up ahead. You've been warned.  
Also, directed to that one guest reviewer who made my day with his/her review, thank you! Please, if you're reading, I implore you to create an account so that you're able to follow my story.**

 **Chapter 9**

 **A Good Day to Die Young**

I opened my eyes in the darkness of the room, roused by the warm, gentle pressure pressing on my mind. I heard the door open, barely audible even in the dead silence of the house, the only other noise being the whistling of the air in the vents. I closed my eyes again and I could feel her presence strengthen, an instant before she was in the doorway, now she was standing right next to me. I was rigid as I felt her eyes on my back, and I tried to keep completely still, fighting the urge to rush up and grab her and push her onto the bed. My head was a suppressed chatter, as I felt her eyes sweeping me up and down, scanning my body for movement, and my mind for any flares of activity.

Her hand, teasing, yet ever so soft, gently touched down on my tense back, and ran up and down, tracing the curve of my shoulder blades, the crevasse in the middle of my back. Muscles jumped under the skin as she carved her way to the side of my face, her hand resuming its way down the line of my jaw, stopping at my chin, just for a second. Slowly, she inched her finger onto my lips, and finally I cracked open an eye, my gaze met by her soft ruby red eyes, made of molten copper and bismuth, the outline of her face shadowed by those gorgeous eyes. I kissed her finger, and smiled, and she smiled back, her eyes twinkling now, and then vanished from my sight.

I abruptly sat up from her sudden disappearance, but was reassured when I saw her sitting on the left side of my bed. I began to make my way towards her, on all fours, but she placed a gentle hand on my chest, laying me down on my back. We never broke eye contact, no words were needed. She slowly got in next to me, and I laid on my side, watching her, waiting to bring her into my arms. Once under the covers, my hand intertwined with hers, and once again I felt a surge of emotion jarring me wide awake. I leaned towards her, wrapping my arms around her, pulling her towards me. I felt for the second time her sweet lips, except there were no floodwaters this time, just a warm, tingling sensation, and purple. I could taste it in her mouth, as our lips danced with another, and my hands, exploring her body, brushed against the spike that lay in between her breasts, and Amanda gasped, sucking away my breath. My mind too suddenly exploded with an outburst of purple, tinting my vision, taking the breath out of my lungs. I opened an eye, and saw that she was surprised as much as I was. With a bit more caution, I traced my hand around the curvature of her spike, and Amanda let out a gentle sigh of pleasure, tightening her arms around me. It was pulsing very slightly, and I realized that it pulsed to the steady _thrum-thrum_ of my own heart. Gaining confidence, I gently pulled away from her pulsing spike, letting Amanda sink back down to normal levels, releasing her mental grip on my mind. I led my hand to her small, firm breasts. Her nipples were already hard, and Amanda let out another small moan of pleasure, as I played with them, kissing her cheek and neck. I felt her soft, flawless skin, her heavy heartbeat thrumming underneath. I could feel her body positively vibrating from my touch, and I traced my hand down her midriff, the echo of her heartbeat still present, the rise and fall of her tummy, firm with muscle.

I traced the outline of her belly button, feeling her soft skin, before teetering on the edge of her crotch feeling her smooth skin spike with goosebumps as I drew near. Amanda sensed my hesitancy, leaned towards me, her hand caressing my cheek, and in the midst of her pleasure she whispered in my ear, her words dripping with lust, " _do it."_

I looked at her once, seeing the compliance in her eyes, and quickly inserted my finger, feeling her wetness. She took a sharp intake of breath, like a crack of thunder, her arms tightening around me, her breath in my ear, the first small moans of ecstasy filling my head, encouraging me onward. I continued, gradually gaining speed, letting friction do its work, her cries gaining volume, her body twisting and churning, thrashing in my arms, throwing the covers out from us. I could feel inside of her pulsing and pushing my fingers, guiding me towards an area the most sensitive, taking Amanda to new heights with a draw of breath, and then a long, drawn out-moan, each louder than the last. She climaxed, and I held onto her, cooing into her ear as wave after wave of pleasure washed over her, jerking her body this way and that. Slowly, she came down back to earth, her orgasms fading away.

She looked at me, those now burning red orbs that were her eyes, and, invigorated, she pushed her lips once more onto mine. As we kissed, she pushed herself over me, so that I was on my back, and she on top. Breaking lips for just a second, she tore off her dress. I couldn't help but stare, and Amanda smiled for just a second, before she placed a loving hand on my crotch, giving it a squeeze. I jumped, and Amanda giggled, arching her back like a cat and crawling downwards, undoing my belt, taking off my pants. I felt her hands on my member, warm and soft, and I let out my own small groan, as she began rubbing and pumping, kissing the tip. I was about to fall over the edge just from the foreplay before Amanda slowed down her rhythm, relaxing her grip, waggling her finger left and right. She –reluctantly– released her grip, and sauntered up my body, letting my member rub against her thighs, until she stopped right at the point of no return. We were inches from another, both up top and down low, our foreheads touching, the others as well. Our bodies seemed to function almost identical, her breath as rapid as mine, our minds seeming to read another's thoughts, faded images that could only be hers darted behind my eyes. We were only seconds from being one together, at least for tonight. I looked deep into her eyes, saw the traces of purple and dark, dark blue mixed into that molten, burning core of ruby red, and I heard her voice purring into my head, " _do you love me?"_

I answered back, hypnotized by the goddess above me, "yes, so much, Amanda."

Amanda wrapped her arms around my back, tying her legs around mine, and said, " _then show me."_

I pushed in, Amanda drawing in a gasp of air, her wetness guiding my way, helping me along. I was slow at first, carving out my path in Amanda's pleasure, trying not to faint, to get lost in the overwhelming pleasure. Amanda sensed this, and she clutched my body, encouraging me onward, to gain speed. I complied, in the midst of our intercourse, I lost my mind, feel deep, headfirst into the chasm that was _us_ , melded in together by our own sweet scent of lovemaking. I could only bear to go faster, and faster, racing towards the bottom, our minds devolved into nothing more than primitive moans and cries. I thrusted hard into her pelvis, Amanda crying out into the ceiling, her endless back arcing what seemed like a million miles high, my mind screaming, myself screaming, and pulled out, as a mind-numbing orgasm rocked my entire body, mixed fluids jumping into the air. We collapsed into another, each retreating back into our sweaty, exhausted bodies, seamlessly gaining back our individual selves. A strong bridge between our minds remained, newly reforged in the primitive fires of fiery love, harder than steel.

As we slowly came back from the high, Amanda curled up next to me, her warm, naked body a comfort in the big, empty room. We both smiled, kissed, and laughed together.

Shortly after, she fell asleep in my arms. Again.

It was a night I will never forget.

I… I can't say it will ever happen again. I want to say more, to tell you that everything was fine after that night, that the next day was nothing out of the ordinary, but… I'd be lying. Nothing, absolutely nothing lasts forever.

God, I know that better than anyone.

It's morning, I awoke from a vivid dream full of pulsing, formless shadowy colors, watching them mix into another, fade away, then finally reappear into the curve of Amanda's hips, the first sight that greeted my eyes. Shallow, golden light filtered through semi-dark room. The house was just beginning to wake up with me, I could hear the muffled _tic-tac_ of Adela's claws on the hardwood, the sleepy " _marill, marill"_ as Azumarill followed her. I also heard the deep, steady breathing next to me. There she was, her naked back facing me, rising and falling with her breath. I lovingly watched her sleep, taking in the morning as I lay next to her. Eventually I wrapped my arm around her midriff and pulled her towards me, feeling her mind merge back into reality, her body rolling over, facing me. She groaned, still half asleep, "mmm, Francis, five more minutes…" She whispered, her voice heavy with sleep, her eyes closed.

"Comon, we have to get up," I said, smiling. I didn't really want to get out of bed either, but already the house was beginning to wake, the noise outside our door picking up volume. I thought I heard a plate shatter, but quickly dismissed it, must've been a hungover Banner. I even heard his muffled swear.

Amanda laid on her back and looked at me with a smile, exposing her bare chest, the remnants of last night present in her eyes. Her hair lay a tangled mess around her head, if it wasn't for her sly smile, she would've looked insane.

"I said just five more minutes…" She cooed, wrapping her smooth, long legs around my body, and doing the same with her arms. She kissed my neck, and soon my chest, myself slowly getting back into the game. But, as things started heating up, she suddenly stopped, and opened her eyes, then they widened. Her breath stopped too, caught in her throat. I looked down at her, slightly confused. I didn't know, god dammit, if only I had paid more attention!

"Amanda?" I said, suddenly worried. Then it hit me like a truck, a physical barrier striking me back, throwing me off the bed and onto the floor. She looked at me for a second, horrified, her mouth gaping open. She suddenly scrambled towards me, desperately trying to grab me, I could see tears in her eyes, her hand reaching out, she cried something out but all I could hear was the savage desperation in her voice, her hand hopelessly flailing in the air, trying to pull me back in, but I was too far away, goddammit, _why didn't I just pay more attention?!_

Right before she vanished, oh God, she screamed, screamed out of pure, unrivaled fear. It made my heart turn black, and my mind struck out like a viper, trying to keep her back, but only snapped back, my head rolling, out of the sheer feedback. It was like a flashbang went off inches from my face, my entire body numb, a piercing ringing in my ears, my mind white from the sudden cut connection. As I regained my vision, all that was left where Amanda was moments before, was a few miniscule wisps of purple and dark blue vapor, leaving me breathless, and suddenly it was very, very cold.

And then the door exploded.

It all happened so fast, I hardly had time to think before I was slammed into the wall, not by the force of the exploded door, but by a huge black metal shield, pinning me against the wall. I couldn't even turn my head, and cried out in pain as it bore down on me, tempting to crush my bones and cave in my chest.

"Careful now, we still want him alive," a female voice, full of smug satisfaction, rang out.

The pressure eased off, and the shield backed away, myself collapsing on the ground. The force of the blow left me dazed, I could hardly comprehend what was going on. As my mind backed away into darkness, I could feel something else take control, something primitive, instinctual. In my muffled state, all I could see was red fury, boiling over into white hot fire. With a sudden, yet brief clarity, I shot up off the floor, crying out in frustration, using the corner of the wall and ground to propel myself towards that black shield, an attempt to overpower the man behind it. I swore I could have heard him laugh, because that damned thing shot forward as well, matching my own speed and force, and crashed into me with a hollow _ding!_

I saw stars, my head spinning as I landed back on the ground, this time a heavy boot painfully pressing down on my bare back. The rage had left me as soon as it had come, leaving myself shot, gasping for breath, every bone aching in pain. Worst of all was my head, reeling back and forth, and I struggled the urge not to scream out loud from pure agony, and the sudden onset of panic.

"Do yourself a favor kid," the man behind the shield said from on high, "and _stay the fuck down."_

I barely heard him, the only thing I could think, with mounting panic, was that Amanda was gone. She disappeared. Where did she go?

" _What did you do to her?!_ " I heaved, struggling under the man's boot, like a naked roach caught under a thumb, " _What the fuck did you do?!_ "

"Holy shit man, calm down," the female voice rang out again, and I suddenly recognized that voice. It all came crashing down on top of me, all of my energy drained out of me with the realization.

It was Flannery.

She actually came back.

With a tinge of annoyance she said from her perch far above my eyesight, "Look, your stupid girlfriend will be fine alright, now-"

The red fury had come back with a vengeance, and now this time I was its master, at least for a moment, and from under the man's boots I bellowed with all my might, " _YOU'RE FUCKING DEAD, DO YOU HEAR ME?!"_ I could feel my captor slightly cringe at the sheer volume of my threat, and it was all I needed to gain the advantage.

With a surge of boiling hot energy, I threw myself over my shoulder, slamming my back against the wall, the man's boot thrown upwards. He was practically teetering on one foot, struggling to keep balance with the weight of his shield. I shot up on my feet, and everything seemed to slow down in my primal, unfiltered rage. I searched for Flannery, and found her standing there, motionless, with her mouth gaping open, her shock of fiery red hair hanging over her red eyes. Eyes that looked so much like Amanda's, and that only added to my endless rage. Barely a second passed, and time sped back up, as I began to sprint right towards her, barely hearing myself as my voice heaved out a ragged, screaming war-cry.

The only thing I saw in my sight was her face coming ever closer to my own, my fists raised, racing towards her at full speed, my singular goal, mere feet away. I never heard the thundering footsteps, or the _whoosh_ of the heavy black shield as it was thrown right towards my feet. I only felt a sharp pain in my left ankle, and suddenly I was tumbling on floor, barely registering the heavy footsteps of the man's boots, and his voice yelling at Flannery, "Go, go, go! Come on, before he gets back up!"

I scrambled back on my feet, throwing the shield away from me, outraged that my target had fled. Heaving for air, I took one step forward, only to fall back down, at first unsure why. I looked down, and suddenly looked away, pain, cool and fast, was now starting to etch its way into the screaming wall of rage.

My left foot, right where the ankle begins and calf ends, was bent at an ungodly angle, the jagged bone sticking out just under the skin. It lolled uselessly in its broken socket, sending waves of pain. I fought back tears of agony, and in my head, I could hear a voice, alien in my head, screaming in frustration at the loss of my target, no, prey.

Something else garnered my attention as well, as I slowly came to the realization that I could hardly walk, and that was the growing amount of smoke in the room. At first it was barely noticeable, but now the acrid smoke was stinging my eyes, filling my nose.

Then there were booming footsteps, and I shot my head up, rage quickly flashing everything back to the background. In my injured state, I readied myself to launch at the man with the shield, returning to finish the job, my mind jeering at what I would to him once he rounded the corner.

I saw his body, and he stopped in the doorway, but it wasn't the man with the shield. It was too late anyway, I had already halfway launched myself at Iron, who nimbly caught me in his arms, stumbling back just a step. Confusion had hardly spread across his face before he took off, slinging me over his shoulder, tearing down the hallway. We entered the living room, and to my horror, everything was on fire. The heat was so intense, my sweat was baked right off my skin. I suddenly couldn't breathe, reduced to coughing and hacking as Iron ran past the flaming living room, into the secondary hallway where he and Banner had slept. He passed a corner, and there was Banner, standing outside the backdoor, waving his arms, screaming at us to come on. Iron grunted out his breath, sprinting towards the door, before an enormous explosion rocked the ground, leading him crashing into the wall. A searing hot wave of air pushed us out of the doorway, we crashed into Banner, and tumbled onto the ground, coming heavily to a stop.

I pushed myself off him, my naked back on the springy grass, panting wildly. Iron stirred, and with a heavy groan he too lifted himself off his buddy, who scrambled back onto his feet, slightly dazed. Banner grabbed Iron's hand and heaved the giant off the ground, dragging me with him. He threw me across his shoulder, myself hardly able to feel anything but throbbing hot pain in my ankle and back. As Iron and Banner ran towards the wall of forest ahead, a jarring calm came over me, silencing the chaos around me, suppressing the agony in my ankle. I looked at the burning house, its shape obscured by the plumes of smoke pouring into the sky, and a single thought entered my head: _the pendant._

"Wait," I gasped, but Iron didn't seem to hear me. I pounded on his back, "WAIT!" I screamed into his ear, "STOP!"

The big man screeched to a halt, rage flitting across his face, and he roared, "Shut up already! We can't go back to save anyone, there's nothing left!"

But I didn't hear him, I only struggled out of Iron's grasp, thrashing through the air, landing on my broken foot. Pain shot up through my body, to the very roots of my teeth, but I could only think of one thing as I awkwardly got back up and started into a loping, agonizing run. I didn't hear Iron chase after me as I tore back into the blazing house, my vision now getting smaller, the edges blurred, closing into swimming blackness. I only thought of Amanda's smiling, beautiful face on the face of the pendant, and I could vaguely hear her voice, cutting across the smoke and hellfire like a cool breeze of air, " _You are everything I could ever hope for, and more. I pray to you, be yourself, and don't ever-"_

I screamed, out of love, out of hatred and frustration, out of pain and more horribly agonizing pain. I couldn't see anything, only the throbbing, miserable blackness that threatened to explode into fire, yet I galloped on, with redoubled efforts I felt something give way, and I crashed through the hellfire and the blackness and the pain. I could feel Amanda's weight in my hand; the pendant, the only link to her soul, the irrevocable reality that I had it, and her, in my trembling, clenched fist. Before triumph could explode into cheer, before I could roar with victory, I fell through the floor, away from the fire, and delved headfirst into a pool of cool, solid blackness.

I awoke with a ragged gasp for air, filling my lungs, and doubled back into a hacking cough that burned my throat. I sat up, coughing water out from my nose. Instantly I recognized the clothes on my back, the same ones I wore when I first came to this world. Secondly, my ankle, although groggy, was no longer broken.

"Holy moley, he's alive!" cried Banner, and I looked up vaguely, seeing Banner next to me, pounding my back, and Iron squatting further away, tending to a blazing fire with a stick.

Supporting myself with an elbow, I looked around, taking in my surroundings, trying to figure out where I was. Looking around, we were covered on all sides by a wall of forestry, ourselves in a small clearing, the sliver of moon shining bright in the sky.

"Where are we?" I rasped, hardly understandable. My vocal chords ached when I spoke.

"Few miles off 118," Iron rumbled, not looking up, the fire dancing brightly in the reflection of his shades, "we were headed for Fortree, and then… Well," he motioned to Banner.

"You fell outta the sky, man!" Banner exclaimed, his eyes bright and dancing, "right into the lake where we set up camp! There was this huge explosion, and, and like there was this purple crap that shot into the air!"

I was silent for a while, mulling over this news, trying to figure out what happened.

Iron beat me to it, breaking the silence, "you teleported, lucky you're even alive," he said.

I didn't say anything, only looked at him, deciding to touch on that subject another time, "and what happened to the house?"

"Burned down. Nothing we could have done."

I shot up, brought back down by Banner's hand, "and what about everyone in it, huh?!" I spat out, Banner keeping me down.

"Relax. Nobody was killed," Iron rumbled. He tumbled a log into the heart of the fire, stirring up a flurry of sparks.

"Yeah, that guy with the shield and his lady friend carted away all your pokemon," Banner piped up, "all but one, anyway," he said with a wink, and produced a pokeball from within one of his many pockets. "You're lucky Iron here even thought of ya. Good thing for us those two morons didn't even check the whole house before setting the damn place on fire."

I took the pokeball from him, already knowing who was inside. I would let Adela out later, but for now sleep was already pressing heavily on my eyelids, so I asked, "where is my pendant?"

Iron shrugged, and Banner looked confused as well, "you mean that thing around your neck?" Banner asked, pointing to my chest.

I looked down, surprised, and instantly its weight pressed against my skin, making itself known. I clasped it in my hand, looking at the portrait of Amanda. A jet-black chain replaced the dazzling white ribbon, dull and matte in the dancing light of the fire. The pendant itself was of the same color, instead of the shining silver. It was cold, void of the warmness it once held. I knew at once whatever link it had to Amanda, was long gone.

"She saved me," I said, not taking my eyes off the tiny portrait.

Iron grunted, "figured as much."


End file.
